Shelley Marwood
Shelley Marwood was born in Ontario in 1980. Currently residing in Calgary,
Alberta, she is in her final year in the pursuit of a Master's degree in Composition at
the University of Calgary. In 2004, Marwood received a Bachelor of Music degree
from the University of Windsor, and an A.R.C.T. in Piano Performance with the
Royal Conservatory of Music. She has had works performed in concerts or
workshops with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Windsor Symphony Orchestra,
Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, University of Calgary Orchestra, Land's End
Chamber Ensemble, UCalgary String Quartet, Ensemble Contemporain de
Montreal, and Rubbing Stone Ensemble. Commissions include works for
Orchestras Canada, the UCalgary String Quartet, the Windsor Symphony
Orchestra, and New Works Calgary.
Marwood received first prize in the 2008 Canadian Music Centre Prairie
Region Emerging Composers Competition for her piece Illumination, which was
performed by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra at their New Music Festival in
February 2008. Other awards include the Richard Johnston Award in Chamber
Music Composition (University of Calgary, 2006-07), the Ellen Marion Bowlby
Scholarship in Composition (University of Windsor, 2002-03), and she was a
finalist in the Land's End Composers' Competition (2006). Her composition
teachers have included Jens Hanson, Brent Lee, Allan Bell, and David Eagle.
The title Of Such Ecstatic Sound is taken from a line in Thomas Hardy's poem "The Darkling Thrush." It is a description of the thrush's joyful evening song, which is a sign of hope during a desolate and bleak time. This idea was appealing to me. There are many ways in which music can sound 'ecstatic,' and the opportunity for exploring these contrasting ideas of hope and desolation was intriguing. The piece is in three movements, and each contains a main theme that explores a landscape filled with fifths, chromaticism, rich harmonies, intricate rhythms, and evocative melodies.
I'd like to thank the Windsor Symphony Orchestra for this opportunity, and many thanks also to all those involved in this performance for their hard-work and incredible musicality.
The idea of Merge was initially inspired by the widely varying landscapes of
Alberta: the Badlands with their hoodoos and sudden shifts in elevation; the
prairies and their gently sloping fields; and the mountains in their majestic, aweinspiring
grandeur. While the landscapes themselves do not directly relate to the
themes in Merge, they were the inspiration for how the themes would shift from one
to another: sometimes gradually with overlapping elements; sometimes abruptly
changing into something completely different. This idea of 'merging' also affected
the way in which the timbric, melodic, and harmonic elements were developed.
I'd like to thank New Works Calgary and the Rubbing Stone Ensemble for this
opportunity, and many thanks also to all those involved in this performance for their
hard-work and incredible musicality.