Alexina Louie facts for kids

Alexina Diane Louie (born 30 July 1949) is a famous Canadian composer. She writes modern classical music for many different instruments and voices. Her music has been played around the world, and she has won several important awards. These include the Order of Canada and two Juno Awards.

Early Life and Learning Music

Alexina Louie was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. She started playing the piano when she was young. At 17, she earned a special diploma in piano performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music. She then studied music history at the University of British Columbia. In 1974, she earned her master's degree in composing music from the University of California, San Diego.

Her Music Career

While studying in Los Angeles, Alexina Louie played in a music group. She also taught piano and how to create electronic music. One of her first pieces, made in 1972, was an electronic song called Molly. She wanted this electronic music to sound "human."

She has written many pieces for the piano. Some of these include Scenes from a Jade Terrace and Distant Memories. She also wrote a Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, which is a big piece for piano and a whole orchestra. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) asked her to write this.

Louie moved to Toronto in 1980. In 1982, she composed O Magnum Mysterium: In Memoriam Glenn Gould. She also created the opening music for Expo 86 in Vancouver, which was called "The Ringing Earth." That same year, the Canadian Music Council named her Composer of the Year.

Alexina Louie has won the Juno Award for Best Classical Composition twice. She won in 1989 for her orchestral work Songs of Paradise (1984). She won again in 2000 for Shattered Night, Shivering Stars (1997), another orchestral piece. She has also been nominated for other awards.

Her orchestral works include The Eternal Earth (for the Toronto Symphony) and Music for Heaven and Earth (for the Esprit Orchestra).

Louie has also written chamber music, which is music for a small group of instruments. Some of these pieces are The Distant Shore for piano, violin, and cello, and Edges for a string quartet.

From 1990 to 2003, Louie received the SOCAN Concert Music Award multiple times. This award is for the classical composer whose music is played the most that year.

Alexina Louie and her husband, Alex Pauk, have worked together on music for movies. Alex Pauk is a conductor for the Esprit Orchestra. They created music for films like Last Night (1998) and The Five Senses (1999).

In 1996, Louie received an honorary doctorate from the University of Calgary. She also worked as a composer-in-residence at the Canadian Opera Company. In 1999, she won the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music for her piece Nightfall.

Louie also wrote a short, funny opera called Toothpaste (1995). It's only eight minutes long and has been shown in many countries. She also worked with Dan Redican on Burnt Toast (2005), which is a series of eight short, funny operas for TV.

Her composition Three Fanfares from the Ringing Earth was played at the opening of the new National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. Her piece Scenes from a Jade Terrace was played when the new Canadian Embassy opened in Tokyo. In 2006, she became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

In 2011, Louie's musical satire Mulroney: The Opera was released. It's a funny musical about the life of Brian Mulroney, a former Canadian Prime Minister. In 2013, her piece "Bringing the Tiger Down From the Mountain" was performed by the National Arts Centre Orchestra during their tour in China.

In 2019, the Honens International Piano Competition in Calgary celebrated Alexina Louie's music with a special event.

Awards

• Canadian Music Council Composer of the Year, 1986
• Juno Award for Best Classical Composition, 1989, 2000
• SOCAN music award, 1990, 1992, 2003
• Honorary doctorate, University of Calgary, 1996
• Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music, 1999
• Order of Ontario, 2001
• Officer of the Order of Canada, 2005
• Molson Prize, Canada Council for the Arts, 2019

See also

• Music of Canada
• List of Canadian composers