Stephanie Martin (born 1962) is a Canadian composer, conductor, and associate professor of music at

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

's School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design.

Biography

Martin was born in

Tillsonburg Tillsonburg is a town in Oxford County, Ontario, Canada with a population of 18,615 located about 50 kilometres southeast of London, on Highway 3 at the junction of Highway 19. History Prior to European settlement, the present site of Tillso ...

, Ontario. She began to learn music as a child, and once said "When I was a kid I listened obsessively to

Machaut Guillaume de Machaut (, ; also Machau and Machault; – April 1377) was a French composer and poet who was the central figure of the style in late medieval music. His dominance of the genre is such that modern musicologists use his death to ...

's ''

Messe de Nostre Dame ''Messe de Nostre Dame'' (''Mass of Our Lady'') is a polyphonic mass composed before 1365 by French poet and composer Guillaume de Machaut (c. 1300–1377). Widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of medieval music and of all religious music, ...

'', written in the 14th century." Martin holds a

Bachelor's Degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in music from

Wilfrid Laurier University Wilfrid Laurier University (commonly referred to as WLU or simply Laurier) is a public university in Ontario, Canada, with campuses in Waterloo, Brantford and Milton. The newer Brantford and Milton campuses are not considered satellite campuses ...

, a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

, and an Associate Diploma from the

Royal Canadian College of Organists The Royal Canadian College of Organists (RCCO), founded in 1909, is a national association of organists and church musicians in Canada, with 28 centres from Victoria, British Columbia to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. The National Office is ...

. As of 2019, Martin is an associate professor in the music department at

. She is founder and director of the medieval music ensemble Schola Magdalena, spent 20 years from 1997 to 2017 as artistic director of Pax Christi Chorale, and worked as the music director and organist of the Church of Saint Mary Magdalene in Toronto.

Partial list of works

Regarding her composition practices, Martin said in an interview "I don’t have a very healthy composition practice. I am a binger. I carve out blocks of time when I don’t do anything but compose. That means I neglect some other important things, but it does mean I can accomplish my writing goals very quickly and efficiently." * ''Babel: A choral symphony'' (2015; Choral with full orchestra) * When You Are Old (2016; various voices with piano) * ''God So Loved The World'' (2017;

SATB SATB is an initialism that describes the scoring of compositions for choirs, and also choirs (or consorts) of instruments. The initials are for the voice types: S for soprano, A for alto, T for tenor and B for bass. Choral music Four-part harm ...

with two treble instruments) * ''Sacred Songs for Small Choirs'' (2018; various voices, a capella) * ''The Llandovery Castle'' (2018; opera for six singers, chorus, and chamber orchestra; libretto by Paul Ciufo) * ''An Earthly Tree'' (2018; SATB with divisi)

''The Llandovery Castle'' opera

Martin's first opera, ''The Llandovery Castle'', is about the 1918 sinking of HMHS ''Llandovery Castle'' and was inspired when Martin noticed a commemorative plaque in honour of a nurse who died in the sinking and later suggested the idea to playwright Paul Ciufo who became the librettist. Ciufo used "a nurse's diary, articles and transcripts from a subsequent war crimes trial" as resources when dramatizing the story. The opera premiered on 26 June 2018 at

Calvin Presbyterian Church Calvin Presbyterian Church is a Presbyterian Church in Canada congregation in the Deer Park area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The church building is located at 26 Delisle Avenue, close to Yonge Street Yonge Street (; pronounced "young") is a ...

in Toronto.

Awards

* Recipient of

Leslie Bell Prize for Choral Conducting The Leslie Bell Prize for Choral Conducting is a $10 000 prize awarded by the Ontario Arts Council every two years to support a selected choral conductor in furthering his/her professional career and enhancing his/her choral conducting abilities. ...

(1998) * First prize in the Exultate Chamber Singers’ composition competition (2009) * First prize in the Association of Anglican Musicians composer's competition (2010)

References

External links

Stephanie Martin's official web site

Stephanie Martin's SoundCloud page

Interview with Stephanie Martin

Canadian Music Centre page on Stefanie Martin
* (1m44 sec) * (49min) {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Stephanie Canadian classical organists Canadian women organists Canadian choral conductors Canadian women conductors (music) Canadian classical composers Living people Musicians from Ontario People from Tillsonburg Academic staff of York University Canadian women classical composers Canadian Mennonites Mennonite musicians 1962 births