Seed Songs, the latest album from Carmen Braden is available now!
〰️
Seed Songs, the latest album from Carmen Braden is available now! 〰️
About
Carmen Braden is a creator and performer of new, beautiful and sometimes weird music. Songwriting and composing.
She is a two-time JUNO nominated force in the world of new music, hailing proudly from the Northwest Territories. Moving smoothly between genres of composing and songwriting, Carmen is recognized as a “brilliant, young Yellowknife-based composer” (Ottawa Citizen) an “acoustic ambassador of the Canadian Subarctic” (Musicworks). Carmen’s work in music, theatre, songwriting and dance has been performed across Canada and beyond, from Atlin BC to Helsinki, Finland. Her work has a special focus on northern themes as well as the influences of play and parenthood.
Carmen has released four albums to national acclaim. Her contemporary classical compositions are regularly commissioned and performed across Canada, and are being increasingly recorded across Canada and beyond. Carmen is an Associate Composer with the Canadian Music Centre, and is signed to Truant Artist Management for representing her compositional work. She is actively engaged as a contemporary classical composer as well as a performer of her original quirky songs throughout Canada.
Performer
Carmen performs her quirky folk songs with jazz-inspired ensembles, often dipping seamlessly into her classical explorations. From intimate theatre stages to folkfest mainstages, Carmen brings sincerity and curiosity to her live performance.
“..the songs tenderly blew dust from places in my heart I didn’t realize needed it so badly..”
Composer
Carmen’s music has been performed across Canada and internationally including by: •Toronto Symphony Orchestra (Roy Thompson Hall) • James Ehnes (Koerner Hall, 21C Festival) • Elmer Isler Singers-Spiritus Chamber Choir • Gryphon Trio-Land’s End Ensemble • Penderecki Quartet-Eckhardt • Gramatté National Music Competition Winner’s Cross-Canada Tour • ArtArctica Festival (Finland) • 2010 Vancouver Olympics • Land’s End Emerging Composer Competition (Audience Choice Award)-Stratford Festival • Northern Scene Festival (National Arts Centre) • The Global Composition (Germany) • Shattering the Silence New Music Festival • University of Calgary New Music Festival.
Teacher
Carmen is passionate about creative education. She teaches individual students in Yellowknife, as well as contributing to music education in the North. Carmen was a pivotal member of the Gryphon Trio’s NWT Listen UP! project, which was a year-long program held in six NWT communities incorporating poetry, music composition, and performance. Carmen also gives customized workshops on music education, composition and improvisation.
Inspiration
Both Carmen’s songs and her contemporary classical music are tied to her northern soundscape. She draws from her environment by examining natural+human phenomena through sonic, visual, sensual and scientific ways of understanding. Her creative journeys have led her into deep study of lake ice, northern life, raven calls, bedrock… Carmen often collaborates with other mediums including dance, theatre, film, and story-telling.
Representation
For composition inquiries including commissions, contact Truant Artist Management.
For live performance bookings contact Magnum Opus Management, a member and cofounder of the Maverick Cooperative.