Calgary Composers

Arthur M. Bachmann (b. March 27, 1961) Born and raised in Calgary, Arthur began studying viola in Calgary and then went on to receive his Bachelor of Musical Arts degree in Viola Performance and an Artist Diploma in Performance from the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario.

QUENTEN DOOLITTLE, born in Elmira, New York in 1925, taught as a Professor of Music at the University of Calgary, from 1960. He took early retirement in June, 1988. A naturalized Canadian citizen, he holds degrees from Ithaca College, Indiana University and the Eastman School of Music

David Eagle composes chamber, orchestral and electroacoustic music, and in recent years, has explored computer applications in composition, improvisation, multimedia and sound spatialization. His latest kinetic music compositions use the movement of sound to fundamentally transform the listening experience. An Associate Professor at the University of Calgary, he teaches composition and electroacoustic music and is Director of the Electroacoustic Music Studio and the New Music Ensemble.

Associate composer with the CMC Prairie Region

Paul Zicheng Fu graduated from the Central Conservatory of Music in China in 1952. Soon afterwards, he became assistant professor of piano, theory and composition at the Studio of Music in Qing Hua University in Beijing, holding this post from 1954-1978. In 1978 he began teaching at the Music Department of the Beijing Teacher's College in China, where Fu was associate professor of Theory and Composition until 1988.

Sonya Guha-Thakurta holds both Master of Music and Bachelor of Music degrees in composition from the University of Calgary, where she studied with Allan Gordon Bell, David Eagle and William Jordan. While still a student, she was the recipient of a Godfrey Ridout Award in the SOCAN Young Composers Competition, and won first prize in the 2000 Land’s End Composers Competition.

IRENE JOHANSEN (b. December 16, 1958 Drumheller, Alberta). Raised in Calgary, Irene completed a B.Mus. in Composition with William S. Jordan at the University of Calgary, joining the board of New Works Calgary in the 1980's. Since then she has been writing her own brand of chamber and dance music for performance in Canada, the US and Europe, and broadcast on the regional and national networks of CBC Radio

ICHARD JOHNSTON was born in Chicago. His earliest musical influence was Ruth Crazier-Curtis, a teacher at a junior high school but also, and more importantly, a composer that was to introduce the young Johnston to other fellow composers and to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The next step in Johnston's education came in the form of a scholarship, through Sven Lekberg, to Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois.

William Jordan was born in Athens, Georgia in 1951. He received a PhD degree in Music Theory from Florida State University in 1976, after completing a MA in Composition at the University of Pennsylvania and a BMus in Composition from the University of Georgia. His teachers included Nadia Boulanger, George Crumb, George Rochberg, and Krysztoph Penderecki.

Hope Lee is a Canadian composer of Chinese origin. As a "cross-cultural explorer", her work often reflects her interdisciplinary interests and her views of creativity as an endless adventure of exploration, research and experimentation; a challenge to one's breadth and depth. 'Things change constantly and continuously' she says, 'therefore each work should be approached from a fresh angle.

GREGORY LEVIN (b. 1943) came to prominence as a composer in the early 1970s, his reputation growing steadily since then with works performed in concerts and broadcasts throughout Canada and internationally. Besides being a composer, Dr. Levin is also a performer, conductor, and teacher, serving on the faculty of the University of Calgary, where he established himselfafter early studies and career activity in the United States.

Composer Laurie Radford creates music for diverse combinations of instruments and voices, electroacoustic music, and for performers in interaction with live computer-controlled signal processing of audio and video. His music has been performed and broadcast throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia.

Composer Laurie Radford creates music for diverse combinations of instruments and voices, electroacoustic music, and for performers in interaction with live computer-controlled signal processing of audio and video. His music has been performed and broadcast throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia. He has received commissions and performances from ensembles and soloists such as Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Ensemble contemporain de Montréal, Esprit Orchestra, Ensemble Résonance, code d'accès, Traquen'art, GroundSwell, Pro Coro Canada, Innovations en concert, Jean-François Guay, Laura Wilcox, Jean-Guy Boisvert, lanza-Sheppard Duo, Trio Fibonacci, Trio Phoenix, Duo Kovalis, the Penderecki and Molinari String Quartets, the Logos Foundation, and the Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton and Montréal Symphony Orchestras.

Allan Rae, a prolific Canadian composer, has composed more than one hundred works for Orchestra, Chamber, small ensembles, and solo instruments. In addition to ‘serious music’ he has composed for well over one hundred stage productions, specifically, program music, background music, and music soundscapes for Theatres across Canada

The Canadian Music Centre celebrated the career of Roberta Stephen as a composer, singer, teacher and prime organizer in the field of music in Calgary. Born April 17, 1931, she received her Master's degree from the University of North Texas and works as a teacher of singing, vocal pedagogy, composition, and advanced theoretical subjects.

Michael van der Sloot (b. 1991; Medicine Hat, AB) grew up in the Canadian prairies, the eldest son in a very musical family. He has recently written works for the Meadows Wind Ensemble, Calgary Youth Orchestra, violinist Matthew Albert (formerly of eighth blackbird), violist Nadia Sirota, the Northwestern University Cello Ensemble, and the Altius String Quartet, among others.

ARTHUR WARD (June 3, 1915 - September 27, 2009) was a composer, teacher, and organist. He had a Master of Music in Composition from the University of Calgary, where "he came under the influence of Richard Johnston, Gregory Levin and William Jordan". His works have been both published and recorded, and include mainly music for organ, chorus, and recorder.