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2022/23 has been an exciting time for Lorna in all her endeavours. As the pandemic passes (or as we learn to live with it) and opportunities open up, performances have become more frequent and reconnecting with the music community has renewed inspiration. COVID created quiet time for reflection and getting down to business. After spending a couple of weeks in Portugal studying with one of Canada’s finest composers/arrangers; David Braid, Lorna completed a bib band arrangement of a song called “Alison”, which was commissioned by the University of Calgary and performed in March of this year. “Anything you do in any direction inspires and informs the work you do. Writing for larger ensembles is so challenging but it makes me appreciate the flexibility and spaciousness of the smaller groups. We are so good at filling up space and time in our lives. Writing reminds me that I need time to breath and absorb what is going on around me; are all my actions/notes essential?”

Lorna has been writing, arranging, and performing her own music for over 3 decades. “Writing it is my instrument”, explains the composer. “I have always written for as long as I can remember”. Lorna pursued composition and studied at the University of Calgary with Gregory Levin, Marilyn Engel and Allen Bell, to name a few but in her last year of her graduate degree she became very interested in combining the structure of “Art music” and Electronic music with the freedom of improvisation. Since graduating she has studied with Canadian composer and pianists: David Braid, Don Thompson,  Phil Dwyer, Hugh Fraser and Maria Schneider.

After completing her graduate degree in Composition and Theory she embarked on a career as a composer providing award winning original music for Theatre, Dance and National media companies (CBC, Access  etwork) as well as a variety of commercial and artistic enterprises across the spectrum of music genres. She has recorded six full length albums of original music and has had support from FACTOR, the Alberta Foundation for the performing arts as well as the Canada Council. She continues to work on commissioned pieces for various groups but much of her focus today is writing for her quintet a group that has been performing together for over 25 years. Lorna has always been passionate about music education and believes strongly in helping to develop the talents of the next generation. She has recently retired from public teaching where she was recognized nationally for her dedication to excellence in music education specifically in Choral music, vocal and instrumental and Jazz.

Lorna’s quintet is made up of Calgary’s finest Jazz performers and composers: Richard Harding on Saxophones; Andre Wickenheiser on trumpet/fluglehorn; Robin Tufts on percussion; and Jeremy Coates on Bass. These gifted musicians bring Lorna’s ideas from the page to life and to you.