Black Ice Sound with Carmen Braden

Carmen Braden is a versatile, genre-jumping musician from the Canadian sub-Arctic. Winner of the 2019 and 2020 Western Canadian Music Award for Classical Composer of the Year, Carmen is a composer/performer based in her hometown of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Hailed as “a talented, bold musician” (Up Here Magazine), Carmen is a life-long Northerner whose music has been described as “drop-dead gorgeous” (Ottawa Citizen). Carmen’s second studio album Songs of the Invisible Summer Stars (2019) was nominated for an East Coast Music Award for Classical Album of the Year. Her debut studio album Ravens was released in 2017 – both albums are on the Centrediscs label. 

Born in 1985 in Whitehorse, Yukon, Carmen grew up in Yellowknife and learned to love music with Bill Gilday and Ardith Dean. She earned the International Baccalaureate from Lester B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific and continued to study under Michelle Hewitt. In 2009 Carmen received her Bachelor of Music in Composition from Acadia University where she studied with Derek Charke and Stephen Naylor. She received her Masters of Music in Composition from the University of Calgary in 2015, studying under Allan Gordon Bell, Laurie Radford and David Eagle.

Carmen’s creative work has been supported by the NWT Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts, FACTOR, SOCAN Foundation, and her academic study has been supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

Composers

Carmen Braden
Tiess McKenzie

Performers

Michael Swan, Violin
Oxana Ossiptchouk, Violin
James Legge, Viola
Scott McKnight, Cello
Jennifer McAllister, Flute
Erin Brophy, Oboe
Arlene Shiplett, French Horn
Vanessa Klassen, Clarinet
Helen Pridmore, Soprano
Naomi Piggott-Suchan, Piano
Stephen Kreuger, Bass