anthony st. pierre's biography

Anthony St. Pierre, M. Mus. began his musical career as a choirboy.

He was granted a testimonial in performance from the Royal Netherlands Conservatory and holds a B. Mus. cum laude in composition from Ohio State University.

He earned an M. Mus. at Washington University in historical performance practices and considers the use of boys' voices, to sing music composed expressly for boys, an integral part of such practice. While at Washington University, he studied singing and has been a pupil of Gary Relyea and Max van Egmond.

In the 1970's, he produced the syndicated radio series, Early Music, which was distributed throughout the USA. He studied baroque oboe and played with Tafelmusik for seven years before devoting himself to training boy singers. He has composed for piano, organ, voice, band and diverse wind ensembles, as well as electronic media. A variety of his recorder works are available free here. St. Pierre has produced a concise and practical guide to composing a simple fugue. An excerpt from the guide, as well as instructions for ordering copies of it, are available.

MUNICH MIX PROGRAMME NOTES:

Drums Rolls

When one tears strips of adhesive tape from a roll, random but idiosyncratic rhythmic patterns and timbres result. Among the factors that contribute to the unique qualities of each kind of tape are width, thickness, density, adhesive strength, and the velocity at which the tape is pulled from the roll. When acoustically enhanced, this superposition of the sounds that result from the tearing of tape from rolls is reminiscent of drums - hence the title of this study. Approximately 30-40cm of tape were torn for each sample and rhythmic patterns formed from the juxtaposition of small segments of each sample.
Duration: 44 seconds

Mayday

Like SOS, "Mayday" (from the French venez m'aider) is a universal distress signal. In this study for two sopranino recorders, the word is rendered in Morse Code. Each change of pitch represents a new letter. Because of the re-iteration of the "a" and "y," a pervasive rhythmic motif appears in each of the ten statements. The frenetic tempo and jagged morse rhythms lend a suitably restive quality. The piece concludes with a brief coda based on the morse for the final letter, "y." The performers are Scott Paterson and the composer.
Duration: 52 seconds

Anthony St. Pierre
Toronto, Ontario
CANADA

astpierre@ca.inter.net