Composer. Pianist. Improviser.
Mark Limacher is a JUNO- nominated pianist, composer, improviser, arranger, and genre-crossing musician currently based in Calgary, Canada. He is a graduate of New School University in New York City, and has studied privately with composers Linda Catlin Smith (Toronto) and Laurence Crane (London, UK). In 2013 he served as apprentice to composer Bunita Marcus in Brooklyn, NY.
His compositions are centered around works for solo instruments and small ensembles. In 2022 he was invited to be an Artist in Residence for the Festival of the Sound’s Music Scores 2022, featured by the National Arts Centre as part of their Music Alive program. His arrangements and orchestrations have been heard in collaboration with vocalist Caity Gyorgy, vocalist & playwright Allison Lynch, vocalist Ellen Doty, Kensington Sinfonia, Theater Calgary, and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra.
As a pianist and keyboard player he has performed with a wide range of artists including Juno-winning vocalist Caity Gyorgy, Grammy-winning saxophonist Ted Nash, and techno artist Corinthian, with whom he recorded an album in 2018, Disappearance Exhibitions. He appears regularly with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, and with Theater Calgary, variously, as keyboardist, associate music director, and music director
Other areas of interest include Italian opera, music of the early 20th Century, Psychoanalysis, and contemporary philosophy. In 2016 he co-founded the NCRA award winning radio program Unprocessed with violinist and long-time collaborator, Laura Reid. He currently hosts the podcast Things that Seemed Important at the Time.
