BIO
sylvi macCormac
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People describe sylvi’s voice as having a rich and moving nature. Weaving elements of soundscape with music and voice her work resonates along the lines of Canada and Ireland. Reflecting on experiences through music: the mirror in the sea sylvi writes of spirit and soul, blues and bones, heart and home, intensely of passion, joy, pain, tragedy, and of loving Earth. We hope you enjoy sylvi’s music and consider her work regarding writing, performing, recording, and soundscape in the areas of programming, publishing or communications.
sylvi macCormac creates soundscapes by weaving together various elements: her rich Celtic heritage, her love of music and sound, and inspiration being born and living in Coast Salish territory, Vancouver, Canada.
She began performing music in the early 80′s while working in children’s theatre, taking up songwriting, playing Vancouver’s folk circuit and composing soundscapes. She published four albums and an online ebook about WB Yeats and Japanese Nõ Theatre.
Sylvi’s music is heard internationally and her compositions have been published in such collections as the Canadian Music Centre and Canadian Electroacoustic Community, with commissions and film credits from KickStart, CBC and the National Film Board of Canada.
Sylvi was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1982, when she was 21 years old. Aware that she would soon lose the ability to tour and play guitar, she took up studies at Simon Fraser University where she was introduced to computer music, soundscape and composition. In 1999, Waves of Kokoro, one of sylvi’s soundscapes, garnered international acclaim by receiving an Honourable Mention at Concours International de Musique Electroacoustique, held in Bourges, France.
Her production credits include the 2004 CD, Uts’am/Witness that includes artists Buffy Sainte-Marie, Bruce Cockburn and the Squamish Eagle Song Dancers. She is also the creator of WHEELS Soundscapes: Voices of People with Dis Abilities, at the Vancouver Adapted Music Society. Sylvi volunteered with the Vancouver Folk Music Festival for 30 years, and composed VFMF Soundscapes 1999-2002: Festival Quartet for Solitude, a labour of love in honour of the Festival.
sylvi macCormac’s music continues to be heard internationally and can be found in the
Library & Archives of Canada – http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca
La Phonetique of the IMEB @ Bibliothèque Nationale de France -
http://www.IMEB.net @ http://www.BnF.fr
IRCAM, the Institute for Research and Coordination Acoustic/Music, one of the world’s largest public research center dedicated to both musical expression and scientific research.
http://mediatheque.ircam.fr/cgi-bin-loris/bibrebond.pl?titl=1&loc=1&dspshape=rows&?UNIMARC:32425
Canadian Music Centre’s Electricities/Électricités CD (2003) includes ”the gently haunting ambience of Sylvi MacCormac’s ‘penny: a process’ … ‘Electricities / Électricités’ travels through time, from Hugh LeCaine’s 1957 pioneering and artful experiments with the world’s first ‘Sackbut’ synthesizer on ‘The Burning Deck’ and Ann Southam’s sparse and elegant ‘Reprieve’ from 1979, to the cutting edge and ground breaking contemporary works of Robert Normandeau and Louis Dufort.” http://www.musiccentre.ca
Electroacoustics (including Soundscape Composition) stretches the boundaries of music by collaging sound, story and song, transforming sound sources with signal processing and combining them in creative ways. Diffusion extends familiar structures, by placing the listener inside the soundscape while inviting us on imaginary journeys. ( sylvi macCormac )
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