The Canada Council Molson Prizes The Molson Prizes are awarded to two people—one in the arts and one in the social sciences or humanities—who have distinguished themselves by their outstanding achievements. These prizes are funded by an endowment from the Molson Foundation and are administered in collaboration with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council [...]
The Canadian Opera Company and the National Arts Centre have co-commissioned a new work to replace the music from the Kuyas aria that opens the third act of Louis Riel by composer Harry Somers and librettist Mavor Moore. Composer Ian Cusson, of Métis and French-Canadian descent, has been commissioned to create this new work for the opera, [...]
"On a particularly sunny and warm May day in Belfast – one might even have called it summery – my thoughts turned to the coming season, and to the phenomenon of music performed in the great outdoors, or even deep in the wilderness, if the friends and followers of Murray Schafer are to be emulated. [...]
The Canadian Music Centre joins with the Canadian music community, in particular in the Toronto region, to mourn the loss of Associate Composer Derek Holman. Dr. Holman died in Ottawa on May 20, 2019 at the age of 88. Dr. Holman was born on May 16, 1931 in Cornwall, England, and eventually studied at the [...]
"Back in 2017, it seemed as though every arts organization across the country was talking about collaborating with Indigenous artists. It was Canada’s sesquicentennial, after all, and within the larger environment of reconciliation, Indigenous artists were in high demand. Canadian playwright and librettist Yvette Nolan remembers sifting through the “crazy numbers” of work offers that [...]
"1801, Goethe wrote to Felix Mendelssohn that “where nothing new is actually produced, an art cannot make itself vividly felt.” Innovation and impact are ideas Canadian composer Claude Vivier took to heart. Born in 1948 to unknown parents,Vivier studied at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal before departing for Europe in 1971, where, for three [...]
"There are things you expect to hear from a classical-music composer like Andrew Balfour: that he grew up singing in a church choir. That he began playing an instrument at an early age – in his case, trumpet. That while other kids were grinding out guitar licks, miming Bruce Springsteen or David Bowie (he grew [...]
The deadline to apply for the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music is June 1, 2019! This annual prize encourages Canadian professional composers to create avant-garde chamber music and to foster its performance by Canadian chamber groups. Consult the guidelines on their website. canadacouncil.ca
"Eve Egoyan is an internationally acclaimed concert pianist based in Toronto. She has released a dozen discs and toured worldwide. Eve’s curiosity compels her to reinvent the piano for herself and her audiences, to curate exceptional programmes and to commission new works by like-minded artists and composers. We asked acclaimed pianist Eve Egoyan to tell [...]
"World-renowned flutist, composer and conductor Robert Aitken has been artistic director of New Music Concerts, Toronto's senior contemporary music organization, since its inception in 1971. His many accolades include the Order of Canada, the National Flute Association's Lifetime Achievement Award and the Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts. We asked internationally acclaimed [...]