Allison Cameron (born 1963) is a Canadian composer of

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is Western art music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st-century classical music, 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 Modernism (music), post-tonal music after the death of ...

. She composes works for conventional classical instruments,

early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750) or Ancient music (before 500 AD). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad Dates of classical ...

instruments, and modern electric instruments such as the

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external electric Guitar amplifier, sound amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar. It uses one or more pickup (music technology), pickups ...

. She is also a performer of

free improvisation Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any general rules, instead following the intuition of its performers. The term can refer to both a technique—employed by any musician in any genre—and as a recognizable genre of ...

and

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

Early life and education

Cameron was born in

Edmonton, Alberta Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

, and moved with her family to North Vancouver. She studied at the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...

and

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

. She has cited Michael Longton and Rudolf Komorous as significant influences.

Career

Cameron moved to Toronto in 1989. She founded a six-piece

chamber ensemble Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

, Arcana, in 1992, which performs a contemporary composition repertoire. In 1995 she released a CD of chamber music, ''Raw Sangudo''. Cameron's 1998 composition, "Retablo", was commissioned through the

Canada Council for the Arts The Canada Council for the Arts (), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It is Canada's public arts funder, with a mandate to foster and promote the study a ...

to be played by the classical music quartet The Burdocks. Her 2000 release, ''Ornaments'', features her compositions performed by violinist Marc Sabat, pianist Stephen Clarke, and clarinetist Ronda Rindone. Cameron has worked with Louis Andriessen, Gilius van Bergeijk, Per Nørgård, and

Frederic Rzewski Frederic Anthony Rzewski ( ; April 13, 1938 – June 26, 2021) was an American composer and pianist, considered to be one of the most important American composer-pianists of his time. From 1977 up to his eventual death, he lived mainly in Be ...

in Europe, and Rudolf Komorous, Michael Longton, and James Tenney in Canada. She was a member of the Drystone Orchestra, along with Martin Arnold, Stephen Parkinson, and John Abram. She also performs in a duet with Parkinson. Her music has been performed at the Bang on a Can Festival and she has been commissioned by the Bang on a Can All-Stars. Recordings of her music have been released by the CRI and XI (Experimental Intermedia) labels. In 2004, she was music director of the contemporary ensemble Arraymusic. In 2013, the Allison Cameron Band (Cameron, Eric Chenaux and Parkinson), released an album, ''Bent Spoon Duo, Without and With Allison Cameron'' through the Rat Drifting label."Bent Spoon Duo With and Without Allison Cameron"
''Exclaim!'', By Bryon Hayes, 9 Aug 2013

Discography

*1995 – ''Raw Sangudo''. CD. Experimental Intermedia. *1998 – ''Leisure''. CD. Maarten Altena Ensemble. Donemus. *2002 – ''Ornaments''. CD. Spool. *2004 – Canevas (Fin Fin). CD. Ensemble SuperMusique. DAME. *2010 – ''The Allison Cameron Band''. CD. Rat-Drifting. *2012 – ''Mach Shorn – The EP.'' Stephen Parkinson, Sandro Perri, Marla Hlady, Christof Migone, Eric Chenaux, Allison Cameron. *2015 – ''A-Gossamer-Bit''. CD. Redshift Music Society. *2022 – ''Somatic Refrain''. CD. Apartment House. Another Timbre. Compilations included on: * 1992 – ''Bang on a Can Live''. Vol. 1. CD. Emergency Music series. New York, New York: CRI. (Contains ''Two Bits'' by Allison Cameron.) * 2001 – ArrayMusic Ensemble; compilation CD, Artifact, Toronto. * 2008 – ''Rains Out''. CD, Veni Ensemble Bratislava, Hevhetia. * 2004 – ''The'' ''Art of Touching The Keyboard'' CD, Eve Egoyan, Earwitness Records.

References

External links

Allison Cameron page
from Canadian Music Centre site

at The Living Composers Project site

from Kalvos & Damian's New Music Bazaar

Spool (Record Label)

Experimental Intermedia

Allison Cameron's web page {{DEFAULTSORT:Cameron, Allison 1963 births Living people 20th-century Canadian classical composers 21st-century Canadian classical composers Date of birth missing (living people) Musicians from Edmonton Pupils of Louis Andriessen Canadian women in electronic music Canadian women classical composers 20th-century Canadian women composers 21st-century Canadian women composers 21st-century Canadian women musicians