Episode 2.5 (August 2022) Our city is teeming with emerging artists of all kinds, many of them classical composers. This episode of The No Normal focuses on one such artist, Mary Alice Conrad. Over the last few years, her name has appeared with increasing frequency in concert programming, workshops and commissioned works lists across the country. In this interview, you’ll get to know about this compelling artist’s background and we dig into some of her recent works, with lots of great information on the genesis of Mary Alice Conrad’s diverse and prolific compositions.
Program:
19:44 – The Mountains Rend Themselves Apart (excerpt)
Artistic Director and conductor, Raymond Baril
June 3, 2022, Convocation Hall, University of Alberta
Recording Engineer, Mike Malone
29:30 – The Peculiar Dances of Shifting Minds (excerpt 1)
Allegra Chamber Orchestra, Janna Sailor, conductor, Opus. 59 Films.
FestivELLE Online Concert Series, June 2021, Orpheum Annex, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
41:58 – Breathing Room (excerpt)
Live Mix of MacEwan University Music Department “Generations” Recording Project 2022.
Conducted by Raymond Baril
Recording Engineers, Paul Johnston and Padraig Buttner-Schnirer
At the MacEwan University Recording Department
53:24 – Twenty-Six Punctographic Preludes (excerpt)
The Edmonton Saxophone Quartet
Kendra Heslip, Alto Saxophone
Charles Stolte, Tenor Saxophone
Ben Whittier, Baritone and Bass Saxophone
Allison Balcetis, Soprano Saxophone
December 2021, Convocation Hall, University of Alberta
Audio Engineer, Russel Baker
Artist Bio:
Mari Alice Conrad is an emerging, award-winning composer in Edmonton, Alberta with a Bachelor of Music Degree in composition. She has composed works for Babɛl Choir (Toronto), Standing Wave Chamber Ensemble (Vancouver), Exultate Chamber Singers (Toronto), pianist Allen Stiles (Vancouver), the Allegra Chamber Orchestra (Vancouver), the SHHH!! Ensemble (Ottawa), the East Chamber Music Emerging Composer Festival (Toronto) and has had her music read by members of Pro Coro Canada (Edmonton) and recorded by the Obsessions String Quartet (Edmonton). Her current 2021 summer projects will feature performances of her works at Ottawa Chamberfest, Vancouver’s Allegra Chamber Orchestra FestivELLE, Toronto’s East Chamber Music Emerging Composer Festival, the Banff Centre for the Arts, and the New Music Edmonton and Good Women Dance Summer Solstice Festival. With her life perspective, authenticity, open mind, and passion for composing, she brings enthusiasm, variety, and depth to her compositional practice and teaching studio. Mari Alice has studied composition with Emilie LeBel and Kent Sangster and has had mentorships with Canadian composers Jocelyn Morlock, Matthew Emery, Daniel Mehdizadeh, Jennifer Butler, Edward Top, and Vince Ho. She will be attending graduate studies in composition at the University of Alberta in the fall of 2021.
