Notes Par/by Julie Berardino, Crystal Chan, Wah Keung Chan
/ April 1, 2011
Version Flash ici/Flash version here
Read our coverage of arts policy in the
upcoming election at http://blog.scena.org
Deadlines
2011 YoungCuts Film Festival, Regular
Deadline: March 31; Absolute drop-dead deadline: June 15 www.youngcuts.com
The Canadian Centre for Architecture's
new Young Curators Program and Power Corporation of Canada Curatorial
Internships Program: April 15 www.cca.qc.ca/curatorialopportunities
Congratulations
Le Cirque Éloize
a remporté le 26e Grand Prix du Conseil des arts de Montréal pour
la création de son remarquable spectacle iD qui a inauguré la première
édition du nouveau festival international Montréal Complètement Cirque
et pour son rayonnement international exceptionnel.
Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin
was presented with a Doctorate (honoris causa) from the Université
de Québec à Montréal at an Orchestre Métropolitain performance at
Place des Arts on March 21.
Alain Nonat, Fondateur, directeur
général et artistique du Théâtre Lyrichorégra 20 a été nommé
chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres par le Ministère de
la Culture et de la Communication de France.
Yvon Deschamps, Margie Gillis, William
Shatner, Howard Shore, Leslee Silverman and Paul Thompson were named
the 2011 laureates of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards
for Lifetime Artistic Achievement.
2011 Juno award winners:
Vocal Jazz Album of the Year - Kellylee Evans, Nina; Contemporary
Jazz Album of the Year - Christine Jensen Jazz Orchestra, Treelines;
Traditional Jazz Album of the Year - John MacLeod’s Rex Hotel Orchestra,
Our First Set; Instrumental Album of the Year - Fond of Tigers,
Continent & Western; Classical Album of the Year: Solo or Chamber
Ensemble - Gryphon Trio, Beethoven: Piano Trios Op. 70 No. 1, Ghost
& No. 2: Op 11; Classical Album of the Year: Large Ensemble
or Soloist(s) with Large Ensemble Accompaniment - Lara St. John,
Mozart/Scott and Lara St. John/The Knights; Classical Album of the
Year: Vocal or Choral Performance - Gerald Finley, Great Operatic
Arias; Classical Composition of the Year - R. Murray Schafer,
Duo For Violin And Piano, WILD BIRD
Emma Donoghue's novel Room
has won the Canada and Caribbean category of the Commonwealth Writers'
Prize, and her novel will now compete for the Best Book category. The
book has already won the Hughes & Hughes Irish Novel of the Year
award, the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, and was a finalist for
the Governor General's Literary Award and the Man Booker Prize.
The winners of the CBC Literary Awards
recognizing unpublished writing are: Gina Leola Woolsey, Leslie Beckmann,
Brian Brett, Gerald Hill, Meghan Adams, Corinne Stikeman, Monique Letarte,
Monique Pariseau, Alain-Bernard Marchand, Dominic Gagné, Isidore Guy
Makaya, Luc Lamarre.
Création du Fonds capital culture
Québec
Le 17 mars dernier, le gouvernement du
Québec a annoncé la création d’un fonds commercial destiné au
développement de projets d'envergure en culture, que ce soit dans le
monde du spectacle, des livres, du cinéma et de la télé ou des productions
numériques interactives et des jeux vidéo afin de favoriser l’exportation
de la culture québécoise. Le gouvernement du Québec ainsi que le
Fonds de solidarité de la FTQ assureront la capitalisation du fonds
qui sera géré par la SODEC. L’orchestre métropolitain et l’OSM,
notamment, se sont grandement réjouis de l’initiative. JB
Riccardo Muti Wins the Birgit Nilsson
Prize
Conductor Riccardo Muti has been awarded
the prestigious Birgit Nilsson Prize. The prize comes with a $1-million
remuneration. Muti is the second winner of the prize, after Plácido Domingo,
who received it in 2008, three years after Nilsson passed away. Muti
has been the music director of the Chicago Symphony since 2010, and
over his illustrious career he has been at the helm of such orchestras
as London's Philharmonia Orchestra, Filarmonica della Scalla, Philadelphia
Orchestra and has guest conduced the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonics.
CC
James Levine Withdraws from
Rheingold, Il Trovatore
Only a little over a month before the
Metropolitan Opera celebrates his 40 years with the company at a May
1st gala, 67-year-old Maestro James Levine has stepped back
from several upcoming performances. The need to recover from a procedure
he undertook to alleviate back pain was cited as the cause. He will
be replaced by Met principal guest conductor Fabio Luisi. This follows
the announcement earlier in March that he would be stepping down as
Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. CC
Ottawa Bass-Baritone Philippe Sly
One of Five 2011 Met Auditions Winners
Ottawa native and McGill student bass-baritone
Philippe Sly has been named one of five winners of the 2011 Met Auditions
according to a news flash on the Metropolitan Opera website. The five
winners are:
Joseph Barron, bass-baritone from Pittsburgh
Ryan Speedo Green, bass-baritone from Suffolk, VA
Michelle Johnson, soprano from Pearland, Texas
Joseph Lim, baritone from Seoul, Korea
Philippe Sly, bass-baritone from Ottawa
The other three finalists include Montreal
soprano Sasha Djihanian who will also represent Canada in the BBC Singer
of the World Competition in May 2011 as well as the Queen Elizabeth
Competition in Belgium. Soprano Deanna Breiwick from Seattle and bass
Nicholas Masters from New Canaan, Connecticut, round out the finals.
WKC
Yakov Kreizberg Dies at 51
Music director of the Monte Carlo Philharmonic,
chief conductor of the Netherlands Philharmonic and Netherlands Chamber
Orchestra, Yakov Kreizberg passed away on March 15, following a long
illness. After emigrating to the U.S. from Russia in 1976, Kreizberg
became a rising star in the conducting world, landing fellowships at
Tanglewood, studying with Leonard Bernstein and Michael Tilson Thomas,
and winning the 1986 Leopold Stokowski Conducting Competition. His last
public appearance as a conductor was with the Netherlands Philharmonic
on Valentine's Day 2011. CC
Youtube Orchestra 2011 Performance
The 2011 Youtube Orchestra performed
to a full house at the Sydney Opera House on March 21. Michael Tilson
Thomas led 101 musicians from more than 30 countries. The performance
was streamed live on Youtube. The music was accompanied by real-time
video projections on the exterior and interior of the opera house. CC
Itzhak Perlman Resigns from Westchester
Philharmonic
Violinist Itzhak Perlman is stepping
down as artistic director of the Westchester Philharmonic a few months
short of his contract, which would have terminated in June. The orchestra's
executive director Joshua Worby cited financial concerns and says the
split was mutual. CC
Music Critic Ken Winters Passes Away
Ken Winters, aged 81, passed away on
March 22, after a heart attack. He was a critic for newspapers including,
most recently, the Globe and Mail, co-editor of the original edition
of The Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. He had worked for more
than 40 years at CBC, hosting shows such as Mostly Music,
Personalities in Music, and Ken Winters on Music. CC
St. Lawrence Choir Launches Iwan Edwards
Award
An award in the name of choir conductor
Iwan Edwards has been created to support one singer participating in
the Montreal Choral Institute's Masterclass each year. The first winner
is *Alberta's Rob Curtis. The prize will cover the fee of the workshop
as well as a per diem. Edwards founded and led the St. Lawrence Choir
for over three decades. He has founded and led many other choral ensembles
and programmes and is a Member of the Order of Canada.
CC
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Sponsors
Artist Chih-Chien Wang
Galleries have been courting sponsorship
for as long as they've been around. Now, the MMFA is turning the tables;
they are sponsoring an artist for a year to add new work to the contemporary
collection. Their choice this year: a Darling Foundry artist-in-residence,
Chih-Chien Wang. Born in Taiwan in 1970, Wang moved to Montreal in 2002
and graduated with a MFA from Concordia in 2005. His work is mainly
in photograph and video form. CC
Elizabeth Taylor Passes Away at Age
79
Prolific Hollywood star Elizabeth Taylor
died on March 23. She won three Academy Awards, for her acting in
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Butterfield 8 and for
her humanitarian efforts in fighting AIDS. She was also one of the most
famed celebrities of the 20th century; her eight marriages
and other personal dramas fascinated the general public. She was appointed
a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. CC | 
