Rebecca Adams

Rebecca Adams is a Canadian composer-trombonist from Springvale, Prince Edward Island, currently based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She completed her Bachelor of Music with a Concentration in Composition at Dalhousie University in April 2020, and a Graduate Certificate in Music Scoring for Screen and Stage at Sheridan College in August 2021. During her time at Dalhousie, Rebecca studied composition under Jérôme Blais, and, while studying at Sheridan, was mentored by Felipe Téllez and Virginia Kilbertus. Rebecca has a passion for storytelling and loves writing music about people: Personal identity, human struggles, conflicts and emotions, and mental health are all topics that are explored in her catalogue of work.

Above all else, she strives to write pieces that evoke a strong emotional response in the listener: This potential of music, to capture and communicate the innermost thoughts and experiences of people so accurately, is what drew her so strongly to the field. Rebecca has been playing the trombone for ten years and has performed with the Dalhousie Symphony Orchestra, the Dalhousie Wind Ensemble, the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra, the Halifax Queer Ensemble, the UPEI Wind Symphony, and the UPEI Jazz Band.

In 2018, she performed as a soloist for the Dalhousie Wind Ensemble in Berlioz’s Grand Symphonie Funèbre et Triomphal. She studied trombone under Gregory Irvine and Eric Mathis and has had opportunities to participate in masterclasses with renowned musicians, including Alain Trudel. It was only partway through her BMus degree that Rebecca discovered her true niche was composition. After only four months of composition experience, she applied to Dalhousie’s distinguished Composition Program and was subsequently accepted. Since then, Rebecca has had pieces performed by ensembles such as the Maritime Brass Quintet and the Dalhousie Wind Ensemble and has had the opportunity to workshop music with Symphony Nova Scotia and the Verona Quartet.

In the past, she has received several prestigious awards, including the Patricia Wiegers Norman Memorial Music Scholarship and the James A. Faraday Memorial Award. Rebecca has also composed original music for several short films and video games. These include the animated short “Dançarina,” by Monica Santos, and the documentaries “Dancing in the Cold,” directed by Dmitrijus Monastyrecki, and “Romario,” directed by James Cooper. She was also a composer and sound designer for the indie video games Summit, by Unavailable Games, and Uprooted, directed and produced by Alexandre Bujold.

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