Contemporary music in Canada: Alexina Louie.

Abstract

Alexina Louie (1949-) is one of Canada's foremost composers of contemporary classical music. She was named "Composer of the Year 1986" by the Canada Music Council in the International Year of Canadian music. Her compositions have been commissioned and performed by Canada's major orchestras, ensembles, and soloists and have been played extensively throughout Canada and abroad. Due to the incessant demand for her music, Louie is among the numbered few in Canada who are able to make a living solely by composing. The first chapter of this study outlines Louie's life from childhood until 1993. The second looks at the media's portrayal of Louie, from 1980 until 1992. The ways in which Louie composes are discussed in the third chapter, and the fourth analyses three contrasting pieces: (1) Music for a Thousand Autumns (1983), (2) The Eternal Earth (1986), and (3) The Ringing Earth (1985). A list of works, recordings, and published compositions follow an extensive bibliography. A cassette containing excerpts of Louie's work accompanies the thesis. This study reveals Louie to be an outstanding Canadian musician. She is greatly respected and admired for her compositions as well as for her promotion of contemporary music. Through her expertise, her art, her culture, and her philosophy, Louie has helped put a new face on Canadian contemporary music.