CJ Replay: The Life and Works of Four Female Canadian Composers

In October 2015, the Choral Journal featured an article on the life and works of four female Canadian composers: Kathleen Allen, Sarah Quartel, Stephanie Martin, and Ramona Luengen. The choral culture of Canada is vibrant and diverse, and readers will appreciate the opportunity to read about the life and works of these established and “up and coming” composers. Two sidebars are included in the article for further interest: one is a list of other notable Canadian composers, and the second is a list of Choral Journal articles that have previously been published on female Canadian composers and their choral music. A short feature of the four composers is printed below. (Read the full article here)

Kathleen Allen (b. 1989)
Featured Works: “In Paradisum” (published in 2014 by Cypress for an advanced SATB choir and soprano soloist) / “The Close and Holy Darkness” (commissioned by the Savridi Singers Women’s Choir in 2012, features text from “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” by Dylan Thomas)

“For Allen, the process of composing is often a slow one. She spends considerable time seeking the most fitting musical means by which she might elevate a text to express it in a way that is both meaningful to her and authentic to the text.”

Sarah Quartel (b. 1982)
Featured Works: “Alice” (accompanied SSA work published by Oxford, commissioned by Marie Anderson) // “Snow Angel” (extended five-movement work accompanied by piano, cello, and djembe; versions are available for both the treble and mixed choir.

“Quartel takes great care in selecting texts that resonate and that evoke images of personal significance…Until recently, she composed many of her own texts, but in discovering the poetry of others, she has found her works taking on a greater diversity of color and sound.”

Stephanie Martin (b. 1962)
Featured Works: “Hear My Prayer” (published in 2009 by Cypress for an advanced SATB choir) // “Tantum Ergo” and “Alleluia” (published by Cypress as a set but can be performed individually and with any combination of voicings)

“For Martin, it is her love of words that guides her approach. A ‘musical picture,’ as she puts it, typically emerges from the text—‘somehow,’ she comments, ‘the words always suggest the music.’”

Ramona Luengen (b. 1960)
Featured Works: “Mesange” (published in 2013 by Cypress for an advanced mixed choir) // “How the Blossoms are Falling” (commissioned in honor of the late Diane Loomer on the occasion of her retirement from the internationally acclaimed Elektra Women’s Choir; composed in 2008 and published in 2014 by Cypress)

“The impetus for her writing of choral and vocal works is ‘always, first and foremost, the text.’ Of this, she says, ‘I generally search for my own [text], even in a commission situation, for I find there needs to be an essential compatibility of language between the poet and the composer.’”

You can read the full article online in PDF format by clicking here. (Note: You must be logged into the acda.org site as a member in order to access the Choral Journal online. If you are not already a member of ACDA, join today!)