Norma Marian Beecroft (April 11, 1934 – October 19, 2024) was a Canadian composer, record producer, broadcaster, and arts administrator.
She was an honorary member of the Canadian Electroacoustic Community and had served on the juries of the SOCAN Awards and the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music.
In 1950 Beecroft began taking private piano lessons with Aladar Ecsedy, studying with him until she entered The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCMT) in 1952.
[1] In 1959 Beecroft went to Rome to pursue graduate studies in composition with Goffredo Petrassi at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia.
[2] Beecroft began her career working as a script assistant for television music programs for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation from 1954 to 1957.
She continued to work for the CBC in a variety of capacities, including music consultant (1957–1959), script assistant (1962–1963), talent relations officer (1963–1964), and national program organizer for radio (1964–1966).
[4] Her podcast Conversations With Post World War II Pioneers of Electronic Music features some of the fellow composers around that time.
She later produced electronic music scores for William Shakespeare's Macbeth (1982) and A Midsummer Night's Dream (1983) at the Stratford Festival.