Norma Beecroft
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Norma Marian Beecroft (born 11 April 1934) is a Canadian
Early life and education
Born in Oshawa, Beecroft is the daughter of Julian Beecroft, a musician and inventor who was a pioneer in the development of electronic tape, and actress Eleanor Beecroft (née Chambers).[1] She received her earliest musical education from her parents, both of whom had a significant amount of musical training. Her father had originally intended to pursue a career as a concert pianist and had performed in concerts in his early 20s. His career, however, was cut short when he lost three of his fingers in a tragic woodworking accident. Her parents married in 1931 and their marriage produced four other children besides Norma. They divorced in 1947 when she was 13 years old.
In 1950 Beecroft began taking private piano lessons with Aladar Ecsedy, studying with him until she entered
In 1959 Beecroft went to
Career
Beecroft began her career working as a script assistant for television music programs for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation from 1954 to 1957. From 1956 to 1957 she served as the president of Canadian Music Associates, the Toronto concert committee of the Canadian League of Composers. She continued to work for the CBC in a variety of capacities, including music consultant (1957–1959), script assistant (1962–1963), talent relations officer (1963–1964), and national program organizer for radio (1964–1966). From 1966 to 1969 she was a producer for CBC Radio for such programs as Organists in Recital, RSVP, and From the Age of Elegance. She also hosted and produced the program Music of Today during these years and, after resigning as a producer at CBC in 1969, continued to host and commentate for that program in the 1970s. She also served as the president of Ten Centuries Concerts from 1965 to 1968.[1]
She is among a generation of pioneering professional
During the 1970s, Beecroft was busy working as a freelance radio producer, notably creating numerous documentaries for CBC Radio on Canadian composers like Jean Coulthard, Harry Freedman, Bruce Mather, Barbara Pentland, Harry Somers, Gilles Tremblay, and John Weinzweig among others. She also created documentaries on composers Murray Adaskin and Violet Archer for CJRT-FM. In 1975 she put together 13 broadcast records entitled Music Canada that contained music taken from recordings in the collections at the libraries of Radio Canada International and the Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada. In 1976 she won the Major Armstrong Award for excellence in FM broadcasting for her documentary The Computer in Music. She later produced electronic music scores for William Shakespeare's Macbeth (1982) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (1983) at the Stratford Festival.[1]
In 1971 Beecroft co-founded the New Music Concerts (NMC) with composer and flutist Robert Aitken. The NMC was founded with the purpose of providing a performance venue for new music as well as providing performers with opportunities to further master modern performance techniques. Beecroft served as the organization's president through 1989. She was a member of the music faculty at
References
- ^ a b c d e f g "Norma Beecroft". The Canadian Encyclopedia.
- ^ Beecroft, Norma. "Electronic Music in Toronto and Canada in the Analogue Era". eContact!. Canadian Electroacoustic Community (CEC). Retrieved 5 March 2016.
- ^ Rancic, Michael (25 February 2016). "A Nation of Tinkerers: How a Canadian University Shaped Electronic Music in North America". THUMP. Vice Media LLC. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
- ^ Beecroft, Norma (2015). "Conversations With Post World War II Pioneers of Electronic Music". The Canadian Music Centre. Retrieved 5 March 2016.
Further reading
- Beecroft, Norma. “Electronic Music in Toronto and Canada in the Analogue Era.” eContact! 11.2 – Figures canadiennes 2 + TES 2008 / Canadian Figures 2 + TES 2008 (July 2009). Montréal: CEC.