Conservatory alumnus wins Emmy

The soaring music heard ‘round the world at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games came to life under the musical direction of one of Mount Royal University’s own.

Conservatory alumnus Dave Pierce composed and arranged all of the music featured in the Opening, Closing and Medals ceremonies — music that caught the ear of the prime-time television Emmy Awards.

From the Olympics to the Emmys to ... perhaps something even bigger is on the horizon?

At the 2010 Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony on Aug. 21, Pierce beat out such iconic composers as Marc Shaiman and fellow Canadian David Foster to claim the Emmy statue for Outstanding Music Direction.

“It was extremely intimidating to be sitting in a room with my heroes,” Pierce told the Calgary Herald in a feature article on Aug. 23.

“I was dumbfounded when my name was called.”

Pierce’s stock in trade is grand spectacle — aside from his role as music director for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games ceremonies — the composer’s worked with a veritable A-Z of Canadian popular musicians, created original music for several Broadway and television award shows, and returns year after year as the music director of the Calgary Stampede’s Grandstand show.

Where do you go from winning an Emmy

“I just thrive on very high pressure live situations,” says Pierce, “I love following the flow of a show. Maybe it’s not good for my blood pressure but it’s certainly good for the fun factor.”

For Pierce, the international recognition that accompanies an Emmy win is not only a ringing endorsement of the niche he’s carved for himself as a top-level composer, it’s also an opportunity to shape the next steps of his career,

“It really puts a stronghold in my future in television, in movies and in Hollywood. This is a real turning point for me.”

With the Olympic Games under his belt and an Emmy statue on his mantle, Pierce’s future seems bright indeed.

It all started at Mount Royal's Conservatory

The composer’s path to international acclaim can be traced back to his years spent as a dedicated Mount Royal student. From age eight, Pierce was a regular in the Conservatory’s hallways. The gifted young musician — son of a band teacher and a piano instructor — took piano, harmony and percussion lessons and performed in the Calgary Youth Orchestra and Calgary Fiddlers.

“All of the things I’m working on now still boil down to me pushing a xylophone through the Conservatory hallways to practice.”

And the Conservatory’s community of like-minded and equally dedicated young musicians proved to be a fertile environment for Pierce to polish his developing skills as a composer,

“I was always trying to get people together to play my music,” said Pierce, “It’s a great experience when you write something on a page and then hand it to a musician. When you hear it come back to you, it’s such an exciting moment and I still love that.”

Going from two sticks to one

As a teen, Pierce had regular work in the percussion section of the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra which sometimes led to conflicts with his studies and school rehearsal schedule. On one occasion, the Youth Orchestra’s director Nick Pulos pulled Pierce aside for a terse conversation that the composer still credits as being a catalyst for his career.

“Nick said to me, ‘you should think about putting down one of the sticks, because you’re a terrible follower, but you’re a great leader. In the future you may want to think about being a conductor.’”

“It was like this spark went off in my mind,” said Pierce, “I’d never thought about being a conductor but it made a lot of sense. As much as it may have been painful to hear at the time, that one moment at Mount Royal was really critical for me. What a great thing to hear when you’re 17 years old.”

Pierce’s passion for musical education, fostered at the Conservatory throughout his adolescence, continues with his involvement in MusiCounts, a Canadian charity focused on keeping music programs alive in schools across the country.

“Music gives kids who may not be excelling in math or English an extra avenue they can take that may not necessarily be academic. Without these kinds of programs, guys like me would still be struggling at middle age to figure out how to be engineers or accountants!”  

It’s to all our benefit that Pierce isn’t desk-bound. As this accomplished composer’s star continues to rise we’re all welcome to enjoy some truly great music along the way.

— James Bailey, Aug. 26, 2010