Maria Eduarda Mendes Martins is a composer, teacher, and arts administrator living in Victoria BC. Her compositional output — divided between the worlds of electroacoustic and acoustic music — explores sonic contrasts, gradual development of ideas, and the indistinct similarities between sounds and melodies, foregrounding the endurance of music ideas through different music eras. Maria was born in Rio de Janeiro (1990-), moving to the south of Brazil in 2001 and initiating her music studies in 2006, with piano and theory lessons. In 2007, Maria was accepted into a bachelor’s degree in music composition, at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), being mentored by Celso Loureiro Chaves and Eloy Fritsch (2008-2012). In 2013, Maria moved to Canada in order to pursue her master’s degree in music composition at University of Victoria (2013-2015) with Dániel Péter Biró and Christopher Butterfield, receiving also orchestral conducting training with Ajtony Csaba. After Maria’s graduation, her involvement with the local community and music production led her to stay in Canada, starting a career as a Canadian composer/performer and arts administrator. Maria’s music has been recorded by Redshift Music, Musicworks (edition #129) and by Urban Arts Berlin collective. It has also been performed by Erica Roozendaal, Orkest de Ereprijs, Neue Vocalsolisten, Quatuor Bozzini, Cathy Fern Lewis, Luciane Cardassi, Mark McGregor, Proteus Saxophone Quartet (among others), in cities along North America, South America, and Europe. Maria currently teaches voice/piano at the Peninsula Academy of Music Arts, works as Community Relations Coordinator for the Victoria Symphony, and co-directs the Victoria Composers Collective.
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