composer
Biography
Theresa Martin (b. 1979) is a candidate for her doctoral degree in composition the University of Michigan, where she was awarded fellowships and graduate teaching positions in theory and composition. Studying both composition and clarinet performance, she received two masters degrees from Arizona State University in 2004 and a BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2002. Her teachers in composition include Evan Chambers, Michael Daugherty, William Bolcom, Randall Shinn, James DeMars, Rodney Rogers, Jody Rockmaker, and William Heinrichs, and her clarinet teachers include Robert Spring, Deborah Chodacki, and William Helmers.
Ms. Martin's love of clarinet has led her to compose numerous works for the instrument. Her most recent work for clarinet and piano, Growth Spurt, was commissioned by the A.N. and Pearl G. Barnett Family Foundation in Chicago for their 2008 Clarinet Competition. Solar Flair (2004), for clarinet duet, commissioned by clarinet virtuoso Robert Spring, was awarded honorable mention in the 2005 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer's Competition. Gryphon (2006), for clarinet solo, won second prize in the NACUSA 2006 Young Composer’s Competition, and was performed at the International Clarinet Association’s 2007 “Clarinetfest” in Vancouver, BC. Her works for clarinet have received performances in the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, and China.
Her music has been honored with performances at music festivals and conferences such as the Aspen Music Festival (2007), the Midwest Composer’s Symposiums (2006-07), Society of Composers (SCI) National Conferences in Texas, Arizona, and West Virginia (2005-06), and the American Composer’s Alliance Summer Music Festival in New York (2004). Her first orchestral work, Imprints, received the Grant Fletcher Memorial Award in Composition and an honorable mention from the American Composer’s Forum in 2004. She is currently composing her dissertation, an orchestral work inspired by historic photographs of New York City. The first movement, City of Ambition, was recently premiered by The University of Michigan Symphony Orchestra on Mar. 18, 2008.
Ms. Martin describes her music as being humorous, melodious, rhythmically driven, and often inspired by images, words, or events in her life. A native of Appleton, Wisconsin, she currently resides in Ann Arbor, MI with her husband Josh and her new baby boy, Aidan.
Some thoughts on composition...
"Finding my compositional voice is one of the most exciting, painful, and eye-opening journeys I have ever been on. Hopefully, it will produce one of the most rewarding and meaningful expressions of myself that I could ever imagine."
--Apr. 26, 2006
"Writing music is like capturing a moment in time or expressing my perspective on things. I'm always looking for life to inspire me. However, on a good day, just the thought of writing exciting and interesting music is inspiration enough."
—Oct. 7, 2004
"The compositions that I most enjoy writing are pieces that represent some idea, event, place, or time that has had some impact on my life. A strategy I like to use in the beginning stages of composing is to write descriptive words or phrases. I then try to find music which depicts these words. Another process which interests me is the transformation and evolution of motives and themes. I plan to continue using this process in the hopes that my audience will be touched by my emotionally transforming themes."
— Sept. 12, 2003