Name: Monica Pearce
Nationality: Canadian
Occupation: Composer
Recent Release: Monica Pearce’s Textile Fantasies is out October 14th 2022 via Centrediscs.
Recommendations: The Happiness Hypothesis by Jonathan Haidt; Suite No. 2, Op. 17 by Sergei Rachmaninoff
“When did you start writing/producing/playing music and what or who were your early passions and influences? What was it about music and/or sound that drew you to it?
When I was in school, I played piano and worked my way through Royal Conservatory of Music books.
I was always interested in the “List D” pieces, which were the pieces written in the 20th Century (I think now they are “List E”). I remember playing Canadian composer Larysa Kuzmenko’s “Mysterious Summer’s Night” and being so intrigued by these strange harmonies that I hadn’t heard or played before.
When I wrote my first piece in university – a weird little etude for piano and oboe – I can remember the exact feeling when the musicians first played it. That feeling of creating something and having someone else make it their own and express it – I wish I could bottle it.
When you compose something, it’s an individual experience. Still, it is also profoundly connective – once something has been created, the work ties together the composer, performer and listeners in an exceptional way…”
