{"id":119042,"date":"2025-10-31T16:16:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T20:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=119042"},"modified":"2025-11-16T09:05:34","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T14:05:34","slug":"interview-ottawa-composer-sean-clarke-talks-album-flower-daughter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/10\/31\/interview-ottawa-composer-sean-clarke-talks-album-flower-daughter\/","title":{"rendered":"INTERVIEW | Ottawa Composer Sean Clarke Talks About His Album A Flower For My Daughter"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_119044\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-119044\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-119044\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/Copy-of-INTERVIEW-2025-10-31T161432.389.jpg\" alt=\"Composer Sean Clarke (Photo: Curtis Perry)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"628\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/Copy-of-INTERVIEW-2025-10-31T161432.389.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/Copy-of-INTERVIEW-2025-10-31T161432.389-300x157.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/Copy-of-INTERVIEW-2025-10-31T161432.389-1024x536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/10\/Copy-of-INTERVIEW-2025-10-31T161432.389-768x402.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-119044\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Composer Sean Clarke (Photo: Curtis Perry)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Music making and real life come together on the album A Flower For My Daughter by Ottawa-based composer Sean Clarke. It was the birth of his daughter that inspired the first works he wrote for the album.<\/p>\n<p>The album includes a collection of intimate works for solo piano and pieces for flute and solo guitar, along with a miniature opera in 10 minutes for soprano and piano that\u2019s set in Nova Scotia. The opera, Franey Trail, revolves around parenthood, memory, and the longterm consequences of the losses caused by war and conflict.<\/p>\n<p>LV spoke to composer and flutist Sean Clarke about the album.<\/p>\n<h2>Sean Clarke<\/h2>\n<p>Composer and flutist Sean Clarke grew up in Calgary, and went onto study flute and composition at the Royal Northern College of Music and the University of Calgary, followed by a doctorate in composition from the University of Montr\u00e9al, where he studied with Ana Sokolovic and Jonathan Goldman. Since 2017, he has been an adjunct professor at the University of Ottawa.<\/p>\n<p>As a flutist, he\u2019s performed with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and the Red Deer Symphony, and at new music festivals in Montr\u00e9al, Calgary, and Saskatoon, and in the Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de Musique Contemporaine de Qu\u00e9bec\u2019s S\u00e9rie Hommage concert series.<\/p>\n<p>His compositions have been performed by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, National Youth Orchestra of Canada, Gryphon Trio, Quatuor Bozzini, Land\u2019s End Ensemble with Robert Aitken, and Ensemble Mise-En. They\u2019ve appeared on two albums on the CMC Centrediscs label, and broadcast by the CBC.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hyeVbiwh7oQ?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<h3>A Flower For My Daughter<\/h3>\n<p>All the tracks on the album were composed by Sean Clarke, who also plays the flute. Other performers include Roger Feria Jr., piano; Talia Fuchs, soprano; and Nathan Bredeson, guitar.<\/p>\n<p>The music is delicate and emotional, with a spare aesthetic.<\/p>\n<p>Clark composed the album over a three year period that began just before his daughter\u2019s birth. The first time parent was flooded with unfamiliar and heightened emotions that ranged from vulnerability to pure joy. His son also made his arrival towards the end of the period, amplifying those feelings.<\/p>\n<p>Life takes on new meaning with children, and everything from cradling your sleeping child to taking a hike in the mountains has new dimensions. He looked to express those feelings in music, and for his children, who made their arrival on earth during tumultuous times \u2014 even though his own home was safe.<\/p>\n<h3>Sean Clarke: The Interview<\/h3>\n<p>As it happens, each of the performers on the album is also a composer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRoger, the pianist, has been one of my best friends since undergrad,\u201d Clarke says. The two have performed together frequently; hence the focus on piano pieces on the album. \u201cI really know his musicality.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He worked together with soprano Talia Fuchs in the Halifax-based Opera by Scratch project a year ago, which pairs up six composers with six singers to develop six 10-minute operas over a week-long intensive. That\u2019s where Franey Trail comes from.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe workshopped it for a full week with that program,\u201d he recalls. \u201cShe\u2019s an improviser, and composer, and singer.\u201d The back and forth exchange incorporates her advice on how to write for voice.<\/p>\n<p>Likewise, he worked with guitarist Nathan Bredeson via a Canadian Music Centre initiative. As part of the process, Bredeson offered advice on how to write for the guitar.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a really close collaboration,\u201d he says of both experiences. \u201cThey think about structure, and they think about expressiveness,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n<p>Adding composition to performance only makes sense. \u201cThey think about their own expressive language so much, it just makes sense for them to have both roles.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Composer-Flutist<\/h3>\n<p>His own music practice began with performance and taking lessons as a child.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was focused on flute,\u201d he says. He studied via a Conservatory program in Calgary initially, where he says there were few opportunities to explore composition. When he continued studied as the university level, he made the most of the options it offered.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs an undergrad, it was available, and I found it a fascination,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI started getting slowly into it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>By post-grad, his focus was equally divided between flute performance and composing. \u201cIt was in the process. It really came from being a performer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As far as influences, he counts his two of his former teachers. \u201cI think I was influenced a lot by two of my teachers.\u201d He names Alan Bell at the University of Calgary and Ana Sokolovic in Montr\u00e9al. That influence goes beyond the nuts and bolts of composition to elements like writing music connected to natural themes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith Alan Bell especially, there\u2019s a connection with nature,\u201d he says, citing the notion of inner worlds that are tied very closely to the natural one. \u201cI found that really inspiring from the start. His music is very expressive, and economical, and dramatic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bell\u2019s music tells a story, he says, reminiscent of film scores, but using a different musical language.<\/p>\n<p>What he took from Ana\u2019s work is its freedom.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt doesn\u2019t sound like it\u2019s written with a lot of structure or theory behind it,\u201d he says. \u201cIt feels very free. That\u2019s still one of my goals is to make it sound very intuitive and expressive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sokolovic often dances, sings and improvises as she composes, as he notes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI always think of it, in film \u2014 you can get into camera angles, et cetera, but it\u2019s background knowledge \u2014 the visceral feel of the film is paramount.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other influences came via his studies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI also studied the later music of Boulez when I was in Montr\u00e9al. That also felt like it was in his world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As he points out, in his later works, Boulez loosened his modernistic approach, allowing traditional elements back into the music while still using a rigorous modern language.<\/p>\n<p>Those influences can be felt in Clarke\u2019s own music, which might be said to move towards expressive minimalism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI felt with these pieces, I wanted to pull back to the barest possible material to still be expressive,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>His pieces open with a spare statement of theme, and become more and more expressive as the piece progresses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI use the pedal a lot. I like to work against the bareness. To blend the colours together, to create harmony.\u201d It cuts down the prominence of melody to emphasize colour.<\/p>\n<h3>Composing The Album<\/h3>\n<p>\u201cI composed pieces just for myself, slowly.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The guitar piece had been written during the workshop, but Sean believed it would appear on Bredeson\u2019s own album.<\/p>\n<p>Some time after his daughter\u2019s birth, he realized he had written a number of smaller works for piano. \u201cI realized they were all thematic.\u201d They all stemmed from the emotions following his daughter\u2019s birth.<\/p>\n<p>He added Winter Light, the final piece, as he was developing the album. \u201cI thought it would be a good end piece.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The album was recorded in a small, intimate studio in Montr\u00e9al that was perfect for the album he\u2019d assembled. \u201cThat kind of leant itself as well. It was a small space with a piano in the centre. I thought of it as kind of shooting a small movie.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Recording the album and considering its reception for an audience required an adjustment in perspective. He hadn\u2019t written the music for public scrutiny initially. But, another consideration became important.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I didn\u2019t record them and promote them, then my children wouldn\u2019t know,\u201d he says. \u201cThat took my out of my shell and my comfort zone,\u201d he adds. In the future, they\u2019ll know their father through the music he\u2019s written for them. \u201cIt\u2019s a big shift.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Find the album to stream or download on Navona Records [<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.navonarecords.com\/catalog\/nv6743\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">HERE<\/a><\/strong>].<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>Are you looking to promote an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/advertising\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #0e101a;\"><u>event<\/u><\/span><\/a>? Have a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/masthead\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>news tip<\/u><\/a>? Need to know the best\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/events\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><u>events<\/u><\/a>\u00a0happening this weekend? 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