Mark Ellestad Q&A

May 23

By Ado Nkemka

Read this Q&A ahead of “Delights of my Life/In the Mirror of this Night,” the May 29th concert with performances by Eric Chenaux Trio as well as Margaret Gay and Laura Reid (duo performing Mark Ellestad). Learn more about the event and get tickets on Showpass.

Learn more about composer Mark Ellestad through this Q&A.

Ado: Could you briefly introduce yourself to those meeting you for the first time?

Mark: Sure!

My name is Mark Ellestad. I’m writing today from my home in Calgary, the city that I have spent the vast majority of my life in. I began taking violin lessons when I was 8 years old through a program that was offered at school. I really wanted to take piano lessons, like my older brother, but the class was full and violin was the only option. Eventually, it led to opportunities to play in the Calgary Youth Orchestra; to play chamber music with friends who were enthusiastic about music; to go on two tours overseas with the Youth Orchestra; to meeting my future wife in Youth Orchestra; and eventually to find my way into studying music composition in Edmonton and in Victoria.

Music has been a big part of my life. After graduating from the University of Victoria, the city where our two children, Laura and Kris, were born, we moved back to Calgary in 1986. Music became a big part of our children’s lives, too, and it still is. Both of them are accomplished musicians who have created some beauty in this world, and they each have children who seem to have the music bug, too.

I was in the recording business for 25 years in Calgary and regularly got to work with some very gifted people; young and not so young, and everything in between. In 2018, I retired from the business and have since been quietly, and as gently as possible, becoming a senior citizen. The joys of being a grandpa are deep and wonderful and mysterious.

In an interview with Musicworks, you’re quoted as having said “studying with Rudolf Komorous, on the MMus program (UVic), was a watershed moment in my life.” What are moments or insights from the program that have stuck with you to this day?

Those UVic years brought many revelations to my life. The studies with Rudolf Komorous revealed exciting new ways to work with contemporary music theory and composition. There were many meaningful conversations about music and a lot of shared listening, too. Experiencing the doorways to new possibilities beginning to open was stunning; and it was during those years, too, that I met some other composers who became very close friends: Martin Arnold, John Abram, Allison Cameron, Stephen Parkinson, Doug Collinge. Each of them, and others, too, were part of the unfolding journey. And each of them have been major supporters along the way. They all brought a lot of light and excitement and wonderful conversations to my life and I am indebted to them.

If you’re currently working on music, what theoretical concepts or thematic ideas are you currently exploring in your work?

I do still work on music, and I do experiment with all kinds of things. Mostly I remain involved with it as a way of keeping my brain challenged and active. It’s fun, but there is nothing that I would share with others, simply because what I’m making doesn’t ever feel finished, somehow.

What led to you composing “In the Mirror of this Night?”

My friends had offered me an opportunity to have an evening of my music performed at the Open Space New Music Series in Victoria. I had written a wind quintet, No Moon, No Flowers, in 1986 and that was to be one of the works on the concert. In 1987 my father died and I wrote In the Mirror of this Night during the months after his passing; and it became the other featured work on the concert.

What do you look for in musicians playing your work?

I guess I hope that they are courageous and open-minded, creative and enthusiastic. A lot of my music is quite challenging because it is restrained and exposed; and the forms are revealed over extended durations. The musicians are, ideally, able to manage being in this kind of world, and can find their own ways to discover things that move within stillness and reflection; and can reveal some of the light that emerges when we understand how to move slowly.

Margaret Gay and Laura Reid will be performing the approximately 45 min piece on May 29th, what will each bring that you’re excited about when it comes to the performance?

Margaret gave a performance of this work, with Marc Sabat on violin, in Toronto about 30 years ago. I loved what they did together. I wasn’t able to be at the concert but I was given a recording of the performance. I have not met Margaret in person, yet, but I feel that I have

known her through her musical soul. When she was offered the opportunity to come to Calgary to perform this piece again I was stunned that she said yes immediately. She is a performer of the highest calibre and has deep roots in early music through modern performance. So, she has a natural understanding of this duo and it is a big privilege to have her come to Calgary to be part of the New Works Calgary evening.

Laura and I have met during my years in the recording business. She has grown into a wonderful musician who also has a rich understanding of the many kinds of music in the world, including my son, Kris, and his music. I had the chance to hear Laura play at the New Works Calgary concert field studies/VINES and I was deeply moved by the way she handled the exposed and restrained and beautiful music of Emilie Lebel. I am grateful to hear that she wanted to be part of this duo performance and I really look forward to working with her.

Is there anything you’d like to share that I haven’t given you the chance to share?

Yes, my gratitude to everyone. I am so grateful to Rebecca Bruton for asking me if I would be interested in having this music performed here in Calgary. And I am grateful to her for the efforts that she has made to organize musicians, and venue, and everything that goes into making some like this come to life. It is sometimes easy to lose sight of what goes on behind the scenes. Rebecca is doing a fantastic job.

New Works Calgary is bringing something to the city that has the qualities of courage and open-mindedness, the creativity and enthusiasm that are vital to cultural growth in our city.

My gratitude to Eric Chenaux, Ryan Driver and Phillipe Melanson for sharing this evening and for their music and their hearts. These artists’ recordings have been a part of many listening nights with friends in my studio. It is a privilege to be part of this event with you. I am excited that you are bringing your fabulous music to Calgary and I look forward to seeing what your vision brings to folks here.

And to Margaret and Laura, you have my heartfelt gratitude and my profound respect for your courage and commitment. I still don’t understand how people can do what you do. Thank you for going on this journey.

Thanks to everyone involved in making this event happen. Thank you, Ado. You are all building bridges.

About Mark Ellestad

Calgarian Mark Ellestad, who many Calgarian musicians may know primarily as a recording engineer, Hardanger fiddle enthusiast, and for his wonderfully skilled musical offspring, Kris and Laura Ellestad, has been experiencing a slow-burning international renaissance of attentive listeners in recent years. Mark and his compositions are closely connected to a group of aesthetically distinct Canadian experimental composers who studied under Rudolf Komorous at the University of Victoria during a particularly rich period of creative exchange between the mid-1970s and 80s. These include Martin Arnold (who co-founded Rat-drifting Records with Eric Chenaux), Jon Abram, Linda Catlin Smith, Allison Cameron, Stephen Parkinson, Christopher Butterfield, Owen Underhill, and others. While each of these composers creates distinct work, there is an ‘aesthetic of the wonderful’, a reverence for meaningful experimental pathways and willingness to break conventional form that threads them together.

In 2022 acclaimed UK contemporary classical label Another Timbre released, ‘Discreet Angel,’ a newly-recorded compilation of works written by Ellestad between 1988 and 1994. This remarkably-still collection features three composed works performed by Chilean guitarist Christian Alvéar and UK ensemble Apartment House (Mira Benjamin and Anton Lukoszevieze ), and one Hardinger piece performed by Ellestad himself. Of the works Ellestad states, ‘I was deeply interested then—and remain so—in what is possible in music when it is pared down,’ says the composer, “when things that may sound familiar, in some ways, become transformed by the underlying intensity of a form that holds them together in unfamiliar ways. The works on Discreet Angel, the new CD, deal with balances between restriction in gesture and colour and flowing strangeness of form.”

Purchase tickets to May 29th New Works Calgary presentation “Delights of My Life/In the Mirror of this Night” on Showpass.