Biography

 

Described on Bravo TV News as a national treasure, Diana McIntosh has a very active career as a distinctive, original, witty, and innovative composer/pianist/performance artist. She has a dynamic stage presence, and has performed throughout Canada, widely in the USA, and in England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Portugal and in October, 2002, she gave 3 performances in Nairobi, Kenya.

In recent years she has attained a high profile for her one- woman, inter-disciplinary creations, in which she has explored singular ways of working with voiced texts in a theatrical rela- tionship with music. As well as her own original texts, she also uses texts of well-known authors (Diane Ackerman, Gertrude Stein, Beryl Markham, Jon Whyte, Joy Harjo, Liliane Welch, and others). Her eclectic style ranges from the evocative and provocative to eccentric humour. Her repertoire also includes many works of other composers, particularly, though by no means exclusively, those of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Among her commissions for new music are works for orchestra, chamber  ensemble, choral, vocal and instrumental soloists, dance, mime, electronic tape, and theatrically oriented music. Two of her best known orchestral works - 9 Foot Clearance (for piano and orchestra), and Through the Valley: Milgaard (for pianist/narrator and orchestra), both commissioned by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra for its New Music Festivals, have received standing ovations for all her performances.  McIntosh was guest soloist for the premiere performance of both these works and she has been billed by the WSO as a "Festival Favourite". She has been the subject of several TV profiles on CBC and Bravo. 9 Foot Clearance was chosen for the imposed work in the Canadian Concerto Competition of the Orchestre symphonique de Québec, for their March 2002 competition.

McIntosh has been at the forefront of contemporary music in Winnipeg for over 20 years. In 1978 she, together with Canadian composer Ann Southam, organized Music Inter Alia, western Canada's first contemporary music series, and was its Artistic Director for 14 years, until it joined with Thira and IzMusic to create GroundSwell, of which she is a co-artistic director. She is Composer-in-Residence for the School of Music, University of Manitoba.

Diana McIntosh is probably the only composer/performer who has performed in the cargo bay of a Bristol Freighter aeroplane (at the Western Canada Aviation Museum); on top of an airport control tower (at Old Warden Aerodrome, England); in the Royal Canadian Mint, (Winnipeg Branch); in the Scottish National Aviation Museum (East Lothian, Scotland); in The Canadian Aviation Museum (Ottawa); in The Aero Club of East Africa, and the Karen and Muthaiga Clubs (in Nairobi, Kenya); as well as at the Copall Equestrian Centre (in Winnipeg).

McIntosh is well known for her creative imagination and originality, and she has written several works of unusual instrumentation, such as , Four on the Floor, for 4 pianos, 3 brass and 2 percussion, with creative coloured lighting, (this work was commissioned by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra for its New Music festival), several works for toy piano and mouth percussion, and a work for food processor and spoken text.

Two CDs - The Original McIntosh and Another Byte of McIntosh, and a video, Serious Fun With McIntosh, all feature McIntosh's work exclusively, and many of her works are included on other CDs.

The Halifax Chronicle-Herald said, "Virtuoso composer, pianist, show-woman - Winnipeg's Diana McIntosh - is one of the wonders of the Canadian contemporary music world. Contemporary music is not often so engaging, entertaining and delightful."

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

"Diana McIntosh is a national treasure. She is a leading light for any composer, particularly for female composers, and she also brings a very welcome sense of humour and creativity to the concert stages of Canada.".................................................................................................. Bravo TV News

469 Kingston Cr., Winnipeg, Canada R2M   0V1
Tel: (204) 233-4163 Fax: (204) 237-3773

mcint@mb.sympatico.ca