Congratulations to Martha de Francisco, full-time associate professor in the Music Research department and area coordinator in Sound Recording, winner of Schulich's 2023-2024 Teaching Award in the Full-Time Category!
Upon her arrival at McGill in 2003, Martha de Francisco has implemented numerous initiatives contributing to Schulich’s excellence and global outreach. She helped develop the audio-visual webcasting program for the streaming of music performances which notably enables the showcasing of our School’s productions to local and global audiences. She also created important pedagogic opportunities for Sound Recording students by introducing the recording of the large ensembles, including the McGill Symphony Orchestra, as class projects, while establishing “a standard of exceptional recording quality.” In doing so, Martha concurrently initiated innovative specialized teaching for these challenging large ensemble recordings, contributing, together with her colleagues, to establish our Sound Recording area’s leading position among the audio engineering schools worldwide. Ever since, Martha de Francisco has been a cornerstone of the Sound Recording master’s program, and her former students attest to the importance of her teaching and her guidance for their artistic and professional journeys.
Martha has cultivated an innovative approach to the development of transferable skills, and she aims to expose her students to real-life recording experiences in addition to classroom training. Martha values collaborations, and she consistently searches for music research bridges between our students and others through professional-level recording opportunities as well as through our interdisciplinary research partnerships CIRMMT and ACTOR. She is focused on providing opportunities for professional development and her students can benefit from the inspiration of her prominent professional career as a record producer and recording engineer for major recording artists, and from her reputation as “one of the world's leading record producers/engineers for classical music.” Her professionalizing student-centred teaching, as well as her legacy of excellence earned her the 2019 Fellowship Award from the Audio Engineering Society in New York “For conspicuous commitment to audio education and mentorship,” the “Arts and Culture” Award in 2016, among the Women of Distinction Awards from The Women’s Y Foundation, two features in the BBC London radio program entitled “Ten inspirational women using music to change lives,” and frequent invitations to judge competitions and teach masterclasses or workshops internationally.
Her students have gone on to be successful professionals, frequently winning prestigious international student recording competitions and scholarships, or being nominated for major recording awards including the Opus Prix, the Juno Awards, and the Grammys. Others, inspired by her exceptional teaching and that of her colleagues, have chosen to become professors themselves, training the upcoming generation of elite recording engineers and producers. One attests the following: “Martha’s approach to education, one which strikes a healthy balance between discovery and industry knowledge, is one that I have held on to this day and utilize with my own students.” Martha leaves a vivid impression to all the people she works with, and peers and students alike recognize her for her “unparalleled level of care,” for her “indisputably effective teaching style,” and for her ability to “create a warm and nurturing environment conductive to learning and growth.”
