Martin Bartlett

Martin Bartlett (1939–1993) was a musician, composer, performer, writer, and educator who lived in Vancouver, Canada. He was the co-founder of Western Front, the Electronic Music Studio at Simon Fraser University, and the founder of the Vancouver Community Gamelan. A pioneer of electroacoustic music, Bartlett’s compositions frequently featured aleatoric elements and his performances were often collaborative in nature.

Bartlett joined the faculty at Simon Fraser University's then-titled Centre for the Arts (now School for the Contemporary Arts) in 1983. At SFU, he played a key role in shaping the early development of experimental and interdisciplinary arts education, helping to establish approaches that integrated composition, performance, technology, and cross-cultural practice.  Bartlett was instrumental in embedding electronic and electroacoustic music within SFU’s curriculum. His teaching emphasized open-ended, collaborative, community- and process-based practices, reflecting influences from figures such as John Cage and Pauline Oliveros, and helping to cultivate a distinctly interdisciplinary ethos within the School. Equally significant was his role in expanding the cultural and conceptual scope of the program. Bartlett brought non-Western musical traditions directly into the academic environment, encouraging a model of learning grounded in embodied practice, cross-cultural exchange, and community participation.