{"id":111318,"date":"2025-01-28T13:41:25","date_gmt":"2025-01-28T18:41:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=111318"},"modified":"2025-01-29T08:23:17","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T13:23:17","slug":"interview-composer-elizabeth-raum-groundbreaking-career-cathedral-bluffs-symphony-orchestra-80th-birthday-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/01\/28\/interview-composer-elizabeth-raum-groundbreaking-career-cathedral-bluffs-symphony-orchestra-80th-birthday-party\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW | Composer Elizabeth Raum: A Groundbreaking Career, The Cathedral Bluffs Symphony Orchestra, And Her 80th Birthday Party"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Composer
Composer Elizabeth Raum (Photo courtesy of the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Composer Elizabeth Raum began her musical life as an oboist \u2014 although to hear her tell the story, the transition came about incidentally rather than intentionally.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s kind of interesting how that happened,\u201d she says. \u201cI just started out as an oboist, nothing else. But, I did like to compose.\u201d At the time, however, to be a woman and a composer was more or less unthinkable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just turning 80,\u201d she mentions. \u201cThey never played any women composers \u2014 maybe Violet Archer,\u201d she recalls of her student days. \u201cWe did a weekly broadcast, and it had to be CanCon. Lots of Murray Schafer […] but no women,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t imagine a woman being composer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Raum is a native of Berlin, New Hampshire, and became a Canadian citizen in 1985. Her music studies began with oboe performance at the Eastman School, where she graduated in 1966. She went on to earn a Masters in composition from the University of Regina.<\/p>\n

In between, she performed as the principal oboe of the Atlantic Symphony Orchestra (precursor of Symphony Nova Scotia) for seven years.<\/p>\n

Eventually, her performing days in the orchestra became subsumed in her duties as a parent and wife. Pursuing a performing career became difficult with small children, and finding babysitters and other issues became a sticking point.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy husband got a job on Regina \u2014 I went along as a housewife,\u201d she says. She began to perform again with the Regina Symphony Orchestra. \u201cBut I always wrote as well.\u201d Said husband is Richard Raum, trombonist with the RSO, and professor at the University of Regina.<\/p>\n

Making The Leap To Composer<\/h3>\n

Fellow composer Thomas Schudel, a professor of music at the University of Regina from 1964 until his retirement in 2003, and at one time head of the music department, became a musical partner for a time. The duo began to write songs together with the idea of selling them to producers in the US. \u201cBut, it didn\u2019t work,\u201d Elizabeth says.<\/p>\n

She wrote the libretto to an opera, with the intention that Schudel would write the music. When he bowed out of the project, she decided to write the music herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, is this all there is to composing? You just write something you like to hear?\u201d she wondered. \u201cThere was no looking back.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what led to further studies at the U of Regina, and a master\u2019s degree in composition. She recalls meeting weekly with Schudel for coffee to discuss music. \u201cIn the beginning, I wrote mainly for friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gradually, though, her work garnered notice, including her operas The Final Bid and The Garden of Alice. The latter work, which premiered in 1985, was revived to become a pandemic era hit for Pacific Opera in a filmed version.<\/p>\n

Young coloratura soprano Tracy Dahl, who\u2019d go on to a notable international career, performed as Alice in the 1985 premiere. She came back to sing the lead in a story that was reworked for a mature Alice.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought, gee, it would be wonderful if Tracy could sing it?\u201d Elizabeth says. However, after 35 years, she could clearly no longer play Alice as a young girl. Pacific Opera asked Raum to rewrite it around the idea of Alice as an older woman in a hospital undergoing a drug induced hallucinatory experience. \u201cI had to rewrite the ending, which was originally quite dark,\u201d she adds. \u201cIt ended up a happy ending.\u201d<\/p>\n

To film it, the camera follows the action from room to room, through hallways. The music was performed by a chamber orchestra situated in the middle of the action. \u201cIt was really fascinating.\u201d<\/p>\n

She reports that the opera will be performed in Victoria through a young artist program later this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s had quite a number of performances.\u201d<\/p>\n