Linda Catlin Smith’s relationship with composing started at the piano during her childhood in New York. Today her works are played, commissioned, and recorded by soloists, ensembles, and festivals across Canada and internationally. In addition to working as an independent composer, she was the Artistic Director of Toronto ensemble Arraymusic (1988–1993) and a member of the groundbreaking performance collective URGE (1992–2006). She currently teaches composition at Wilfrid Laurier University.
Catlin Smith is no stranger to writing for historical instruments. In 2005, she received the prestigious Jules Léger Prize for Garland, which was written for Tafelmusik. “I love the music of the Baroque era,” she writes, “its transparency of sound, its gorgeous colours.” And she does indeed appear to be a master of colours. As Kate Molleson writes in The Guardian, “The results are beautiful: poised and thoughtful, never forced. Often the music is soft but tactile—Catlin Smith lets us sit with the texture of the sounds, like feeling fabric between the fingers.” Catlin Smith’s Versailles plays with these elements through variation and subtle movement, allowing the listener to discover “the shifting of the geometry when walking through the gardens of Versailles….” – Andrea Stewart |