BEECROFT, NORMA MARIAN: It is with deep sadness that we announce the passing of Norma Marian Beecroft in her 91st year, peacefully on Saturday, October 19, 2024. … A beloved Canadian composer, electronic music pioneer, and trailblazer in the world of modern music. Norma’s legacy will continue to resonate through her groundbreaking compositions, the artists she inspired, and the profound impact she had on Canadian music. Norma had an unwavering commitment to supporting young composers and musicians, many of whom cite her as a mentor and inspiration. A celebration of life will be held on Saturday, November 16, 2024 … In lieu of flowers, donations to the Canadian Music Centre, (CMC) in memory of Norma Beecroft, would be especially appreciated by the family.
‘We can’t think about contemporary music in Canada without thinking of Norma Beecroft. With her passing this week at 90, we’re reminded how, in these moments, an artist becomes the sum of every chapter they’ve written. Norma was a true force in adventurous music …. She knew that detailed, artful compositions – lovingly crafted and meticulously performed – could unlock entirely new worlds for any audience.
Her innovative spirit continues to inspire, most especially in her pioneering work with electronic music, which she began exploring in the 1960s. There are captivating photos of her in her early 30s in the University of Toronto Electronic Music Studio surrounded by the seemingly magical equipment of the time, an exciting maze of buttons, knobs, and tangled wires. In 1967, this was cutting-edge technology—large machines that allowed composers to manipulate sound in ways never heard before, and a stark contrast to the sleek, digital tools we use today.
… She also made waves as a broadcaster and producer, particularly through her work with CBC Radio, where she became a passionate advocate for contemporary Canadian composers. Her dedication to adventurous music extended to her leadership at New Music Concerts, which she co-founded in 1971 with Robert Aitken … help[ing] shape NMC into the risk-taking, innovative organization it remains today. At NMC, we are reminded daily how much of our identity stems from Norma. Her electronic innovations, broadcasts, compositions, and leadership all flowed from a deep passion for pushing music forward. For that, we are forever grateful and in her debt.”
Brian Current, Artistic Director, NMC
“I too see Norma’s life,” as Brian Current says, as “the sum of every chapter they’ve written,” but right in this moment one chapter stands out for me – the concert season of 1978-79 when Norma was my boss at NMC. As the organization’s concert manager, it was my first real music, non-gigging, job out of music school (York U.). Norma was NMC’s determined and efficient President and Bob Aitken its driven Artistic Director, flutist and conductor.
NMC was on-the-job-training for me. Nail-biting cold calls to AFof M musicians, booking them for dates, alternated with occasionally more glamorous tasks such as locating American composer Lou Harrison who had been commissioned to deliver a new multi-movement work to the Orford String Quartet, and were anxiously waiting for the piece. (I eventually tracked him down to a California monastery where silence was the order of the day – which made for a complicated phone call!)
Along with her family and friends, on November 16 I attended Norma’s Celebration of Life, spoke to many of them and flipped through photo albums in the reception room: photos evoking her brief mid-century career as a glamorous fashion model in Toronto’s garment district (she never forgot how to pose when called upon!); her composition studies and friendship with John (and Helen) Weinzweig; her multiyear, sometimes long-distance romance with another outstanding Toronto composer, Harry Somers; her fruitful, productive three-year composition sojourn in Rome. Many chapters indeed!
Andrew Timar, composer and co-founder of Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan
In her own words (as quoted by David Jaeger): “[I was] the second of five offspring of a father who was an inventor, Julian Beecroft (1907–2007), and one of his main interests was acoustics and sound, which he began investigating when he was very young. … It was inevitable that I would join those questioning the present and future value of this new technology to music, this fascinating interaction between the fields of science and the humanities. And so, in 1977, I began my investigations into exploring music’s relationship to technology through the voices of some of the world’s foremost creative musical minds.”
Compiled and edited by David Perlman
