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Theresa Martin

Dr. Theresa Martin is a composer and clarinetist whose works have achieved international recognition. Martin is influenced heavily by nature and personal musical experiences and as a result these influences can be very apparent in both the names and style of her pieces. Martin first achieved compositional note when she composed a piece for her two clarinet professors Dr. Robert Spring and Dr. Jorge Montilla in 2004. The piece was called solar flare and it was Martin’s conception of what it might be like to pass a solar flare. The piece was recorded by the two teachers and eventually performed at International Clarinet Fest. As a result of this her works have become staples at virtually every clarinet fest since. Much of her works are unaccompanied and have been performed and dissipated to clarinet players from her alma mater Arizona State University. Theresa has also seen some of her works for larger ensembles receive major recognition as well. Recently her orchestral pieces have been played at the Aspen Music Festival, Sewanee, and the Ann Arbor Symphony.

Theresa Martin’s work City of Ambition is one of her best-known works. It is arranged for both Wind Ensemble and Orchestra. This piece was originally written for Dr. Martin’s Doctoral Dissertation. This piece draws its inspiration from a set of photographs of New York that were quite hazy. The piece is written in three movements and tries to capture the energy, excitement, and constant activity. The pictures themselves were quite hazy and Martin employs constantly changing orchestration to capture this feeling of haziness. The first movement is based on a photograph of the New York City Skyline, and it tries to capture the sheer size of New York. The second movement comes from a 1932 aerial photograph and tries to capture the hustle and bustle of big city life. The third movement captures the relationship between humans and machines, and it draws its inspiration from a 1931 photograph of steel workers constructing the empire state building, its driving rhythmic figures seek to capture the constant effort sound of the steel workers machines.

Theresa Martin is also often active as a clarinetist throughout the country and has had several notable solo performances with the Arizona Wind Ensemble and the Osh Kosh Symphony. Martin currently resides in Wisconsin where she maintains a private studio of composition, clarinet and piano students.



       



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDTPymw7hQU&t=1634s

Comments

  1. I really enjoyed hearing a new work for wind band! I really appreciate seeing Universities showcase up and coming composers, and letting them speak for themselves, and share their thoughts on their work. Of course, it is also great that a woman is getting this level of credibility. I hope Theresa can help to inspire other young musicians to get into composing.
    - Laura Ruple

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  2. I absolutely loved the colors Dr. Martin created in her piece City of Ambition. I was thinking of other pieces I know about big cities as I listened to it; City of Ambition includes similar ideas of ever-changing motifs and a wide variety of sounds with little apparent form. It's as if the listener is walking through the city, stepping into many mini worlds charged with their own moods, sounds, and cultures. Thanks for the introduction to this piece and composer!
    -Hyrum Arnesen

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  3. Thank you so much for this great post about Dr. Martin! As a vocalist, I always find it so interesting to hear pieces not for the voice but about nature, as so much music in the vocal repertoire is about aspects of nature. I actually went to Dr. Martins website as I was intrigued to hear “City of Ambition”from your description. It is extremely impressive for a dissertation piece, I was floored! I think without even hearing the name, I would have known what Dr. Martin was picturing as she was composing, it certainly has the up and coming New York feel to it. She would be such a fantastic person to visit CCM, I hope that this can happen someday soon. Thanks for sharing! -Abby Ryan

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  4. Thank you for introducing the class to Theresa! I've been a fan of her works for a while and have performed 5 of them. I wasn't aware of her works outside of the clarinet specific world, and I loved hearing her wind band work. She is easy to work with and has been great at responding quickly to emails and being flexible!
    -Bryce Newcomer

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  5. Thank you for sharing these works! I love that she based the movements of her City of Ambition off of pictures of New York. I think it's so interesting when art is inspired by other art. I hope some dy to have the opportunity to perform some of her works.
    Lianna

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  6. I'm glad you decided to talk about Theresa Martin! She's definitely a composer worth knowing (especially among clarinetists). I'm really only familiar with her clarinet solo pieces, so it was cool getting to hear a larger-scale work by her. I'd certainly like to play some of her stuff in the future.
    - Cameron DeLuca

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  7. Thanks for sharing this! Her works were really inspiring and the fact that some of her inspirations came from different art forms makes her special (to me) because it shows her ability to synthesize ideas into composition! -Zack T

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