 Gayle h. Martin is University Organist; and is Assistant Professor in the Music Department at Mount Allison University, where she teaches organ performance, music history and choral conducting, directs the Elliott Chorale and Choral Society, and coaches an early music group, Opella Nova.
Martin’s passion for music, animals and nature began in the countryside where she grew up, the beautiful Green Mountain State of Vermont. She holds the following degrees: BMus. (Crane School of Music, SUNY, Potsdam); MMus. (McGill University); DMus. (University of Alberta). While studying organ in France, Martin was organist at the American Cathedral in Paris and lived in the cathedral tower. She received a premier prix à unanimité from the Conservatoire de Rueil Malmaison, studying under the tutelage of renowned organists Jean Langlais and Susan Landale.
Martin has created three CD’s. Celtic Impressions, recorded on the organ at the Mount Allison University Chapel, features a commissioned work by Edmonton composer Jacobus Kloppers, based on Scottish jigs, airs, strathspeys and marches; Air Races, a collaborative CD with piper Ian MacKinnon, was nominated for an East Coast Music Award. Air Races contains various Celtic tunes arranged by Martin. Prism, Martin's first solo CD, recorded on the newly restored organ at Trinity-St. Stephen’s in Amherst Nova Scotia, has music from the French symphonic era and music by Petr Eben.
Gayle h. Martin has accompanied various choral groups including the University of Alberta Madrigal Singers, the Université of Moncton choir, Chorale Beausejour, Choeur Louisbourg, Camerata Singers of Halifax, and Cantabile Singers of Truro. She has taken part as organist/accompanist in the making of several CD’s, the latest being the Christmas album, Songs of the Stable: Christmas Music from Canada, with the Camerata Singers. Martin is a member of the Yellow Dory Trio; a female group who perform salon music, early music and music by Rheinberger for violin, cello, and organ/harpsichord. Gayle also performs with Montreal singer Deborah Kraus; they have a concert in Montreal in January, 2010.
Gayle h Martin and Rawlins Cross piper Ian MacKinnon have performed in Calgary and Edmonton and extensively in the Maritime provinces, most notably for the American Guild of Organists’ National Convention in Halifax where the program was received with great enthusiasm from the audience. The duo formed due to an invite from Vision TV to perform on their show, Steeple Chasers. Ian and Gayle continue to perform Celtic music as found on their CD Air Races. The duo has been invited to play at the Moscow Music Festival in March of 2010. Gayle has also made a cameo appearance with the Celtic rock band, Rawlins Cross, in Calgary, Alberta.
Gayle h Martin is currently on sabbatical. Recently she performed in Bangor, Maine, Randolph, Vermont and St. John’s, Newfoundland. She will concertize in Moncton, New Brunswick in October, Nova Scotia in November and San Jose, California in December.
|
