Van Buren: ep 107. Ashely Weckesser - Composer | Sound Designer | Visual Artist | Collaborator

Ashley Weckesser is an Edmonton, AB-based composer and interdisciplinary artist working in the fields of music and sound, visual art and theater. An early-career artist, her instrumental and graphic score works have premiered at the University of Alberta’s Convocation Hall through the University’s Experimental Improvisation Ensemble (“XiMe”), Contemporary Music Ensemble and Edmonton's Ultraviolet Ensemble. A recent graduate from the University of Alberta, she has studied composition with Dr. Mark Hannesson and Dr. Scott Smallwood. Her current interests involve music design for video games and film, producing animated graphic scores, working with advanced music software such as Max/MSP, and the visual arts. Her works have won awards for best video game audio design, multiple university scholarships and recently her animated graphic score, A Composer’s Nightmare, has been featured in the Toronto 4th Multicultural Film Festival 2021.

Ashley’s primary goal in her works is emotional storytelling that ignites passion. Music cannot effectively impact listeners without having a story and without having emotion. Ashley has taken a new interest in musical compositions that are designed to explore the impact of music on the conscious and subconscious emotional reactions of both the performers and listeners. Her goals are to design music in both the film and video game industries, as well as live performances (taking multiple forms), that turn the active listener into a participant; creating their own personal story and subsequently emoting on a transcendent level.

Ashley Weckesser's website: https://www.aweckesser.com/