Percussionist Mark Duggan is a versatile performer and composer, comfortable in many genres. As a performer, Mark has appeared with a variety of ensembles including Toronto New Music Concerts, Continuum Contemporary Music, the Canadian Opera Company Orchestra, the Esprit Orchestra, the National Ballet of Canada Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony and the Art of Time Ensemble. He is also a founding member of the Evergreen Club Contemporary Gamelan (since 1983) which has performed throughout Canada, Europe, Asia and the US.
A graduate of the master’s program in world percussion at the California Institute of the Arts, Mark has performed in a wide spectrum of musical contexts appearing with the Philip Glass Ensemble, the percussion group Nexus and the Ensemble Intercontemporain de Paris directed by Pierre Boulez. As a session player Mark has appeared on dozens of film and commercial recordings. His affinity for the music of Latin America has led him to integrate these influences into his own writing especially with the group Vuja d?. Other projects include several tours of Japan with marimbist Mika Yoshida, performances with Brazilian guitarist Celso Machado, and performances at the Tongyeong International Music Festival in Seoul, South Korea.
As a composer Mark has written for concert, dance, video, and various commercial settings including commissioned works for the chamber trio Sanctuary, Nexus, the Evergreen Club, choreographers Maxine Heppner, Susan Lee, and an array of solo marimba pieces. Mark’s recording projects have been twice nominated by both the Juno and East Coast Music Awards most recently in 2003 for the CD “Mistura”. In 2001 he received the Freddie Stone Award from the Newfoundland Sound Symposium for his contribution to Canadian contemporary music. Mark’s compositions often reflect his ongoing interest in the music of non-western cultures and specifically the language of rhythm, and have been performed in North and South America, Europe and Asia along with numerous broadcasts on CBC radio and television. Mark’s current projects include the making of a CD recording of his compositions for solo marimba, and composing a new work combining the Evergreen Club with the chamber group “Sanctuary”, to be premiered in May of 2004.
