Lorna Paterson 

MMus, BMus (with distinction), LMus (Western Board), ARCT

 

Lorna is a Canadian composer, educator and pianist. Her varied career includes roles as: teacher at conservatories and community music schools, artistic director of arts organizations, musical director with professional theatre, adjudicator at music festivals and scholarship auditions, clinician and chamber musician.

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Lorna specializes in composing original music for piano students that is contemporary, engaging, and grade appropriate.  Her writing style ranges from lyrical and expressive to rhythmically vital and energetic in her solo pieces as well as her duets. 

 

Lorna’s interest in composing blossomed when she first composed piano pieces for her young children to play. This led to asking other teachers to try out her pieces with their students and provide feedback.  After self-publishing her first piano album, Lorna was invited to have her works published by The Frederick Harris Music Co. Ltd., which resulted in five piano albums. One of Lorna’s compositions was selected by the Canadian Federation of Music Teachers Association for its Diamond Jubilee Collection.

 

Lorna champions students to compose and perform their compositions at Canada Music Week recitals. As the Featured Composer at the Victoria Piano Summer School, Lorna was commissioned to write pieces for students to premiere.  Numerous other commissions and publications followed. Lorna’s pieces are performed widely across Canada and the USA in festivals, recitals and exams.  They have been included in the Alliance for Canadian New Music Projects piano syllabus, the Conservatory Canada Piano Syllabus, numerous festival syllabi in Canada and the USA, and in the Royal Conservatory of Music Piano Syllabus for over twenty-five years.