Margaret Maria: Cellist/Composer, Improvisor, Educator

Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman

Margaret Maria is a wonderful cellist who’s a unique composer. Her compositions are all written by layering cello lines in some gorgeous and emotive aural tapestries. Her personal story is interesting and moving: she started the cello as a teenager, was admitted to the University of Toronto at age 16 without graduating from high school, and was then admitted to the prestigious Curtis Institute. She went on to have a successful career as a member of the Vancouver Symphony and then Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, which is how I came to know her. She gave up her job with the NAC after a few years, and embarked on a new life as a composer, meanwhile continuing to teach. Some of her work as an educator has been with the Orkidstra program, which she has been involved with since it’s inception in 2007. It’s a social development program that serves over 650 youth from over 62 linguistic and cultural backgrounds by building community through free music programs. This episode has a lot of powerful music; you can use the timestamps to navigate. Like all the episodes in this series, this is available wherever you get your podcasts, as well as this video, and the transcript and show notes are all linked to my website https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/margaret-mariahttps://margaretmariamusic.com/home

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Timestamps (00:00) Intro(02:44) Teaching improvisation in Breno, Maribyllia, creative process(06:57) Marbyllia duo with Bill Gilliam, clip from Gravitational March(07:47) Margaret’s music education and evolution as a cellist and composer(12:52) intro to Blessing of Awakening and Margaret’s creative process(17:00) clip from Blessing of Awakening(18:03) Margaret’s personal story and evolution as a composer(19:46) please support this podcast(20:01) perfectionism, starting late, playing injuries(23:39) Curtis(27:05) more about Margaret’s personal story and evolution as a composer(31:32) Orkidstra and music education(34:26) Alice Kanack, the benefits of teaching improvisation (38:35) producing music with Craig McConnell, intro to Raging Red(41:24) clip from Raging Red with Craig McConnell(42:04) duo project with singer Donna Brown, rock opera with Julian Gracia Reig, getting grants(50:22) From Scars to Infinite Stars(55:19) where to find Margaret’s music(56:20) Margaret’s approach to teaching (01:05:49) reflections on her life, intro to Her Heart on a Platter(01:08:29) Her Heart on a Platter(01:14:39) Margaret’s sheet music(01:15:34) empath feeling others’ emotions, intro to Shame on an Angel, artist Angel Muriel(01:20:39) Sham on an Angel(01:25:52) Margaret’s creative process

photo of Margaret: Bret Archangel Menezes

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