In 1985 she was awarded a Major Arts Grant from the Manitoba Arts Council, and a grant from The Canada Council that enabled her 
to live in New York for a period of 7 months to immerse herself in the New Music scene there, and to write new works.  This proved 
to be a major springboard for her career as both composer and performer.  Her outlook was vastly expanded, she met many
composers and performers, and she gained an enhanced recognition of her own stature in the milieu.

Diana has performed 8 times in New York, mainly one-woman shows, but also as a guest on the New York New Music series, performing her duo Luminaries, with renowned flutist Patricia Spencer.  That concert was held in the Carnegie Recital Hall.  Diana subsequently presented several one-woman performances in that hall, as well as in Merkin Hall, Symphony Space, and the Knitting Factory.

Diana McIntosh at Symphony Space, Broadway, New York, NY - c 1985

"An individual but genuinely poetic atmosphere."
New York Times

Important contacts she made in those months in New York, in 1985, led to her bringing a variety of performers she heard there to Winnipeg, to perform in her Music Inter Alia series.  Duo pianists  Cameron Grant and James Winn wowed the Winnipeg audience with their stunning performance of Stockhausen's Mantra.  As co-artistic director of GroundSwell, Diana brought James Winn back to Winnipeg in 2003, along with violinist Rolf Schulte of New York, for a concert of piano and violin duos and solos.  They premiered her Moments Ago.

"Diana McIntosh's sound arsenal."                    "Full of mysterious sounds."
Ear Magazine (New York)                                            Washington Post