about

Canadian multi-instrumentalist and composer Marielle Groven has been based in Amsterdam since 2019. She performs on violin, piano and pipe organ and composes for various ensembles. Recent performances include the A L’ARME! festival with Jasper Stadhouders’ Polyband; the Rewire Festival with Leo Svirsky and The River Without Banks; a violin solo at the Bimhuis; The Amsterdam Wandelweiser Festival; and with Charlemagne Palestine.

Her compositions have been performed internationally by ensembles including Ensemble Surplus (Freiburg); Ensemble Mosaik (Berlin); the Argonaut Ensemble (AUS); the International Moscow Ensemble (RU); and Ensemble Linea (Strasbourg), at festivals including Klangwerkstatt (Berlin); The Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (UK); the Bendigo International Festival of Exploratory Music (AUS), Suoni Per Il Popolo (Montreal); and Cluster (Winnipeg).

Her composed music foregrounds the beauty and complexity of raw sound roughly hewn using basic compositional methods. Her scores are handmade and realized using a highly distilled form of notation using standard and graphic notation.

Her solo improvised violin project is a recent endeavour inspired by Amsterdam’s international free improvised music scene. In this she has developed a personal approach embracing her musical roots in Atlantic Canada and her history with the music avant-garde. Lately she is experimenting with amplification.

Teaching plays an important role in Marielle’s work. She has lead courses in music theory at the undergraduate level as well as for the general public. She has assisted younger composers in the development of new works in the context of private lessons and workshops. She also teaches piano and violin privately.