Cecilia Livingston Awarded the Louis Applebaum Composers Award
Toronto, September 25, 2024 – Composer Cecilia Livingston is the recipient of this year’s Louis Applebaum Composers Award. This year’s $15,000 award recognizes excellence for a body of work in the field of composition for theatre, music theatre, dance and opera.
About Cecilia Livingston
Cecilia Livingston specializes in composing for voice. She is composer-in-residence at the Canadian Opera Company (2022-) and was composer-in-residence at Glyndebourne (2019-22). Her music is driven by melody, mixing styles to create work that is lyrical and unsettling.
Her work has been heard at Glyndebourne, Teatro Colón, Teatro Carlo Felice, Bang on a Can’s summer festival, Toronto’s Nuit Blanche festival, in recital at Carnegie Hall, the Barbican, and the Kennedy Center. Her work has also been performed with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra, Tafelmusik, and Soundstreams, and is available on recording from Deutsche Grammophon. Cecilia is represented by Stratagem Artists in New York.
“I’m honoured to receive the Louis Applebaum Composers Award, and I thank the Ontario Arts Foundation and the jury for this wonderful recognition,” said Cecilia Livingston. “The Award’s financial support is a significant investment in me as an artist, and perhaps even more rewarding is its powerful statement of trust: in my creative path, in the music I write, and in how my work connects with audiences at home and abroad.”
Assessor Comments
The assessors were unanimous and enthusiastic in their choice for the 2024 Louis Applebaum Composers Award, stating: “We are moved by Cecilia Livingston’s beautiful and engaging compositions, and her commitment to innovation and excellence. Each work shares a deeply personal voice full of imagination and originality. She has made a profound contribution to contemporary opera in Canada and around the world.”
This year’s jury consisted of Alice Ping Yee Ho (Toronto) composer, pianist and the 2016 Applebaum Composers Award laureate; William Lamoureux (Toronto) composer, arranger, producer, concertmaster, and violist; and Rick Sacks (Toronto) composer, percussionist, artistic director, music director, and sound artist.
About the Award
The Louis Applebaum Composers Fund was established at the Ontario Arts Foundation in 1998 by Louis Applebaum to recognize excellence in music composition. The award is made biennially in the following alternating genres: media; theatre, music theatre, dance or opera; jazz; and composition for young people.
The Ontario Arts Foundation manages the endowment that funds the award. The award winner is chosen through a nominating and adjudication process managed by the Ontario Arts Council.
Previous recipients include Debashis Sinha (2022), Eleanor Daley (2020) and Hilario Durán (2018). See the full list of previous recipients.
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For information, please contact:
Bruce Bennett, Executive Director
Ontario Arts Foundation
Tel: (416) 969-7413 bbennett@oafdn.ca
Established in 1991, the Ontario Arts Foundation (OAF) is passionately committed to building long-term support for the arts in Ontario. In 2023-2024, the OAF paid over $4.6 million in endowment income and $500,000 in awards and grants.
For 60 years, the Ontario Arts Council (OAC) has played a vital role in promoting and assisting the development of the arts for the enjoyment and benefit of Ontarians. The OAC reached 27.4 million people through events and arts education activities across the province in 2021-2022. In 2023-2024, OAC invested its grants program budget of $53.3 million in 219 communities across all 124 Ontario ridings, providing 2,149 grants to individual artists and 1,043 grants to organizations.
