Woman photographed in black and white, with short brown hair and wearing a dark sweater. She is working at a desk, ready to write on a piece of paper. She is smiling.

Ann Southam (1937 - 2010)
composer

Ann Southam was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1937 but lived most of her life in Toronto. After completing musical studies at the University of Toronto and the Royal Conservatory of Music in the early 1960's, Ann began a teaching and composing career which included a long and productive association with modern dance. As well as creating music for some of Canada's major modern dance companies and choreographers including The Toronto Dance Theatre, Danny Grossman, Dancemakers, Patricia Beatty, Christopher House and Rachel Browne, she was an instructor in electronic music at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and also participated in many "composer-in-the-classroom" programs in elementary and high schools. While a great deal of her work was electroacoustic music on tape, in her later years she became increasingly interested in music for acoustic instruments. She composed concert music for a variety of acoustic instruments and instrumental ensembles, working with such artists and ensembles as Eve Egoyan, Christina Petrowska Quilico and Arraymusic. Ann’s work was commissioned through the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council, and the CBC, and has been performed in Canada, Europe and the U.S. She was part of a generation of composers that profoundly changed the landscape of Canadian music. Ann was made a member of the Order of Canada in 2010.

For Peggy Baker Dance Projects: Ann’s work Spatial View of Pond was the score for Peggy’s 1997 solo Strand.