Image photo: Wes Bell ( www.wesbellphoto.com/fine-art ) SNAG - Box Springs Road, Cypress County, AB, Canada Gelatin Silver Print 2016 Performed by the Primrose and Thunder Bay String Quartets on June 24, 2023 at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity for the Evolution Chamber Music Residency. Members of the Primrose Quartet include Ryan Char , violin, Cameron Alan-Lee, violin, Clement Pickering, viola; Shannon Ross, cello. Members of the Thunder Bay String Quartet include: Chris Stork, violin; Kimberly Durflinger, violin; John Sellick, viola; Bryce Penny, cello. Snag - Mari Alice Conrad I. four wires II. three wires III. two wires, above the horizon The composer wishes to acknowledge fine art photographer Wes Bell, for permission to integrate three photos from his series, Snag, into the composition. For more information on Wes Bell please visit his website: www.wesbellphoto.com/fine-art Composer notes: In my work I search for meaning and connection in the landscapes around me. I have learned that my own environment, if mindfully explored, can summon deep questions about being human and reveal beauty in the unexpected, everyday moments. I was struck by the expression of mundane beauty in the work of Wes Bell, an Alberta fine art photographer, and his photography collection Snag. The series of photographs include black and white images of tattered plastic caught in barbed-wired fences that line the prairies of southern Alberta. Bell’s images are powerful and transport me to my childhood where my parents would fly kites with me in the same open fields and blue skies of southern Alberta. Things are different now. I am no longer swaying carefree in the wind like a kite but am caught like a piece of plastic on a fence in a complex and delicate snare of memories of a time passed and the fear of what will come. Bell’s collection explores similar poignant themes such as the fear of the unknown, vulnerability, grief, and loss, evoking a powerful relationship between place and human experience.

Now Hear This 2024, June 8 Triple Bill Mile Zero Dance Space, Edmonton AB - Sol Viator: free improvisation trio with drums, saxophone, and bass/vocals electronics (Matt Meeker, Holly Sangster, Biboye Onanuga) - Sir Kadian (Mika Haykowsky) and Laughter Lily (Shayda Yazdanmehr): uniting their practices in this improvised soundscape of song, breath, and sound. - XiME: Selections from Mari Alice Conrad’s Six Arctic Experiments with experimental ensemble XiME.

make score videos in your browser @ https://scorefol.io/ support score follower @ https://www.scorefollower.org/support/ more info below ⤵ performed by Mari Alice Conrad; Elijah Klein (audio engineer) Atmospheric Etudes: No. I - Troposphere by Mari Alice Conrad (2020) https://www.marialiceconrad.com/ this work was selected in the Fall 2022 #FollowMyScore call for works uploaded with permission from Mari Alice Conrad 00:00 Atmospheric Etudes: No. I - Troposphere 04:23 Performance Notes This video is protected by copyright and/or related rights. Viewing and sharing this link is permitted only for non-commercial uses ―― follow us for new videos and news! tiktok : https://www.tiktok.com/@scorefollower twitter : https://www.twitter.com/incipitsify facebook : https://www.facebook.com/scorefollower/ join our community on Discord : https://discord.gg/x2mdqYY

Program (performed Oct 27, 2024 in Edmonton, AB) Snapshots of Home (2024) – Betty Ling Stolen Stars (2020) – Mari Alice Conrad Counter Chronometer (2024*) – Ben Whittier burdock (2024*) – Emilie LeBel After the Rain – Jocelyn Morlock Aquacultures – Scott Smallwood i. the warming ii. excursions iii. beluga iv. cove v. shrimp vi. farewell vii. the depths *commissioned by New Music Edmonton with the assistance of the Edmonton Arts Council Program Notes Snapshots of Home: It recently occurred to me that I haven’t gone home to Shenzhen, China, in four years; Covid made it impossible for me to return home, plane tickets were too expensive, I had to take spring and summer classes because of my degrees, and my visa was rejected for traveling abroad. Because of these reasons, my memories of Shenzhen have been reduced to mere impressions; snapshots in time. I turned the most impressionable snapshots into an acoustic love letter to my hometown, since my now-blurry memories of it are similar to how the audience might imagine it. I captured five places within Shenzhen in this work: Nanshan Mountains, the vast and mysterious homes to Shenzhen’s wildlife; Qianhai Street, an orchestra of boisterous traffic jams; Nantou Spring Festival Market, a bustling flower market, and the frequent host of festivals; The historical building in Nanyuancun, which my friends would tell scary stories about; Finally, Zhongshan Park, a playground for children and hot-spot for the elderly to practice Tai-chi. In this five-movement piece, tranquility meets commotion, as exuberance meets languor; tradition meets innovation, as Chinese classicism pairs with Western modernism—all to paint an auditory picture of Shenzhen as I know it. stolen stars – for brass quintet and lighting effects: In 1878, Thomas Edison and his team claimed the invention of the light bulb unaware of the impending impact it would have almost 150 years later. The light bulb could be a revolutionary metaphor representing human attempts at controlling nature, an industrial tool to extend our billable hours, or a means to reclaim our sense of safety. Unmistakably, the light bulb has changed the developing world. This same light, however, has irreverently robbed the restorative balm of the night, has stolen the stars that once glimmered like jewelry in the sky, and has disrupted the rhythm of the earth and the creatures that call it home. This composition explores the enchantment and curiosity of the night stars and the lights that have stolen them. Counter Chronometer is a work for brass quintet, written for Bok Brass with support from New Music Edmonton and guidance from Emilie Lebel. The piece is inspired by the swirling and shifting of clock gears, but instead of arriving in a timely and orderly fashion, there is something wrong with this clock. I’ve seen many different broken clocks over my lifetime, and I’ve always found them more interesting than their highly accurate and functional counterparts. Using this as inspiration, this quintet features inconsistent rhythms, chime interjections, and just a little bit of chaos. burdock for brass quintet: Arctium is a genus of biennial plants commonly known as burdock. Native to Europe and Asia, several species have been widely introduced in Alberta. Burdock plants have dark green leaves that are generally large, coarse, and ovate that are woolly underneath. Burdock’s clinging properties are an excellent mechanism for seed dispersal. Burdock in Alberta occupies a conflicting role as beautiful and useful, and problematic as an invasive species. After the Rain: Trombonist Neal Bennett commissioned Jocelyn Morlock for a new piece for solo trombone in 2012. The resulting work, After the Rain, was inspired by Max Ernst’s surrealist painting of a devastated post-apocalyptic landscape entitled Europe After the Rain II (1941). Morlock’s handling of solo trombone could not be more different than the powerhouse fireworks of her piece for trombone ensemble with percussion, Sequoia. Rarely straying from the instrument’s middle register and exploring a handful of multiphonics, After the Rain captures the essence of Ernst’s painting: alien, forlorn, and hauntingly beautiful. Aquacultures: In contemplating the word Aquaculture, which normally refers to the industry of sheries and the human consumption of seafood, I wonder about the word as a more general term for cultures who rely on water, human and otherwise. What is the culture of the creatures we refer to as seafood? How can we understand the importance of water, and all of the diverse life it cultivates? The sounds in this piece are, in some cases, recordings of actual water and underwater environments, including the sounds of animals. These recordings were collected by the composer in Colorado and Washington in the US, the Northwest Territories and Nova Scotia in Canada, and Brisbane, Australia; Other sounds are inspired by water, its fluidity, its necessity, and its myste

The Allegra Chamber Orchestra conducted by Janna Sailor performs Mari Alice Conrad's "The Peculiar Dances Of Shifting Minds". Rebecca Whitling, Violin 1 Erin James, Violin 2 Sarah Kwok, Viola Rebecca Wenham, Cello Meaghan Williams, Bass Albertina Chan, Harp Katie Rife, Percussion © 2021 Allegra Chamber Orchestra / Opus 59 Films

On October 18, 2022, GroundSwell was delighted to host Vancouver’s internationally acclaimed Standing Wave at Muriel Richardson Auditorium in the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Enjoy the concert. 00:05-13:50--single Red flower (2022) by Bekah Simms (World Premiere) 14:00-19:00--Biosphere (2022) by Rebeka Schroeder (GroundSwell 30th Anniversary Commission) 19:18-24:50--Beams of Light (2022) by Kiara Nathaniel (GroundSwell 30th Anniversary Commission) 25:06-32:32--Atalanta's Arrow (2022) by Mari Alice Conrad (World Premiere) 32:45-44:40--in an archipelago (2020) by James O'Callaghan 45:00-1:00:40--Deus ex Machina: The Nine Lives of Schrödinger's Cat (2019) by Gordon Fitzell 1:01:19--Thanks and acknowledgements. Thanks for watching.

Mari Alice Conrad's 'Atalanta's Arrow' performed live by Vancouver's Standing Wave Ensemble. Presented by Music on Main, as part of the 2022 Modulus Festival. Filmed live Monday November 7, 2022 at ANNEX | Vancouver, BC. Music on Main gratefully acknowledges that our events take place on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xʷməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ilwətaɁɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Recording Engineer - Andrew Smith Filmed by Collide Entertainment: Director - Mike Southworth Producer - Joanna Dundas Camera Operators - Karina Jesson, Scot Proudfoot, and Mike Southworth Editors - Joanna Dundas and Mike Southworth Music on Main's YouTube Channel is free for everyone to watch. Donations to Music on Main are greatly appreciated: https://www.musiconmain.ca/donate/don..

Music: Mari Alice Conrad Text: Anna Marie Sewell Conductor: Mark Ramsay Live recording from May 23, 2022 Podium 2022: Canada's National Choral Conference and Festival Recorded at Metropolitan United Church, Toronto, Ontario