Sharlene Wallace

As a composer, Sharlene draws upon her earlier experiences with dance (as a teenager at the prestigious National Ballet School of Canada) and as a visual artist (drawing and painting at the University of Toronto). Her compositions build rhythm upon rhythm, creating the musical equivalent of a visual palimpsest.

Visual metaphors proliferate, as Sharlene uses sound and rhythm to sculpt an aural space. The intervals of silence become as important as the played notes themselves, like the negative space between objects. A reviewer writing about Journey of Shadows offers, "The atmosphere created is of a reverie with visions akin to animate elements...the pieces are visual, cerebral, and full of rhythms."

			performer composer recording artist

A highlight of the concert was Sharlene's three-movement "Island Mountain Suite". This airy, verdant work is a gem - mixing elements of Celtic dreaminess, rhythmic complexity and beautiful, memorable melodic writing.

— Ian Hepburn,
director of concert series
"Music Alive! Musique en Vie",
Vankleek Hill, Ontario