"The greatest satisfaction is to build something useful where there was nothing before..."
Many know Artemis as the co-creator of S.A.S.S., the School Alliance of Student Songwriters, founded in January of 2003, something she could not have done without the musical inspiration of Dale Russell, whose generosity to the next generation of songwriters is now well-known. What began as her wish to share the love of songwriting with young people in her high school and to help them express themselves in a safe environment has now become a major not-for-profit organization dedicated to nurturing musical literacy in young artists. S.A.S.S. now employs over 25 professional writers and provides free songwriting training to more than 1,000 students in over 50 schools.
Her first major musical work in l998 was the nine-song, fully-orchestrated musical drama "The Prodigal Son", which she scored, choreographed and directed with 50 singers and actors in her community. Her brother, John Connors, co-wrote two of its memorable numbers. This musical's three sold-out shows benefited The Ark Youth Shelter and Hearth Place Cancer Support Centre in Oshawa, Ontario.
A classically-trained flutist, Artemis has played in four orchestras, with a favourite season on piccolo in the Oshawa Symphony under Conductor Winston Webber.
After teaching three years of high school vocal music, Artemis developed a new fascination for composing.
Now music awakens her at night, calling her to write what she has dreamed, pouring out music like moonlight on her keyboard.
Between 2001-2003, Artemis took a leave from teaching to write music full-time. Artemis attended writers' workshops in Toronto and Nashville, as well as travelling to Midem in Cannes, France in January, 2002.
In the fall of 2002 and 2003 Artemis donated six months to organizing benefit concerts for the Sunnybrook Foundation for Cancer Research, Hearth Place Cancer Support Centre, and the Canadian Diabetes Foundation. Artemis continues to donate time to organizing community benefit concerts, now mainly for the School Alliance of Student Songwriters.
Artemis is a passionate, adventurous song-writer and composer...An artist who captures what is most moving in life with colourful waves of sound, her melody-driven works carry an exciting momentum and rich, meaningful lyrics on the unabashed joys, struggles, and opposing forces of life. She claims fewer certainties but explores more questions.
On stage, Artemis not only makes eye contact with everyone in the room, but focuses on exchanging energy.
Whether at battered women's shelter benefits, writers' nights, self-help seminars or in school songwriting workshops, audiences are moved by the feeling of Artemis's work. Like any songwriter, Artemis strives to...
