Composer Justin Mariner (1971) has lived in Montréal since 1993. He grew up in Nova Scotia, where he studied guitar and violin. He realized an interest in composition before entering Dalhousie University, where he received a Bachelor of Music in 1993. He subsequently enrolled at McGill University where he completed a Master of Music degree (1996) under the supervision of Bruce Mather and Brian Cherney, and Doctor of Music (2003) under the supervision of Denys Bouliane. In June 1998, he took part in the Ircam Summer Academy. Mariner has been a composition instructor at the McGill Conservatory of Music since 1996. In 2001, he joined the direction of Ensemble KORE.
Justin Mariner has been commissioned to compose works for the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, the Ensemble contemporain de Montréal, Quatuor Bozzini, Brigitte Poulin, Trio Chanteclair, Trio Contrastes, and the Association des orchestres de jeunes du Québec. His music has also been performed by Continuum Contemporary Music and the Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal. Mariner’s musical style derives partly from a variety of folk and popular music sources. It is a language that betrays concern for patterns and our ability to perceive them, the technical elements of which have become increasingly integrated in current musical vocabularies. His compositions have been selected for the final rounds of the SOCAN Young Composers Competition, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s Canadian Composers Competition, and the International Gaudeamus Music Week. He received the Prix Jeunesses Musicales du Canada in the CBC National Competition for Young Composers in 1999. Mariner is currently collaborating with his brother Haydon Mariner, a comic book illustrator, on a piece with projections, narrator, acoustic and electronic instruments, which will be premiered by the Ensemble KORE in April.