News Releases - 2004
Jasper Wood, Kaori Yamagami, Jocelyne Roy and Shannon Mercer win Canada Council for the Arts music prizes
Ottawa, June 2, 2004 - Violinist Jasper Wood, cellist Kaori Yamagami, flutist Jocelyne Roy and soprano Shannon Mercer are the winners of Canada Council for the Arts prizes for young Canadian musicians.
Jasper Wood, a native of Moncton, New Brunswick, who currently lives in Toronto, is the winner of the 2004 Virginia Parker Prize. The prize, worth $25,000, was established in 1982 by Virginia Parker Moore. Moved by her profound love of music and the recognition that talented young musicians need such a prize to help them take a leap forward in their careers, the late Mrs. Moore established the prize for young performers of classical music, under the age of 32, who demonstrate outstanding talent and musicianship. Former Virginia Parker Prize winners include Julie-Anne Derome, Stewart Goodyear, Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, James Ehnes, Karina Gauvin, Michael Schade and Jon Kimura Parker.
In memory of the late Sylva Gelber, who passed away last December, the Sylva Gelber Foundation Award is awarded this year to two talented musicians. Kaori Yamagami of Maple, Ontario, and Jocelyne Roy of Repentigny, Quebec, are recipients of the Sylva Gelber Foundation Award, established in 1981 by Sylva Gelber of Ottawa. The award is given annually to the most talented candidate under the age of 30 in the Council’s Grants to Professional Musicians competition, classical music category. Ms. Yamagami will receive $15,000 and Ms. Roy will receive $10,510. Kaori Yamagami and Jocelyne Roy join the ranks of previous winners including David Jalbert, Jasper Wood, Jon Kimura Parker, Marc-André Hamelin, Stewart Goodyear, Jessica Linnebach and Alexandre Da Costa.
Shannon Mercer, a native of Ottawa, who resides in Toronto, was selected as the recipient of the $5,000 Bernard Diamant Prize, which offers professional Canadian classical singers under age 35 an opportunity to pursue their career through further studies. The prize was created in 2001 with funds from a generous bequest to the Canada Council by the late Bernard Diamant, as well as through memorial gifts from a number of his friends, colleagues and former voice students. It is awarded in addition to a regular Canada Council grant to an outstanding young classical singer in the Council’s annual competition for Grants to Professional Musicians, classical music category. Measha Brueggergosman won the first Bernard Diamant Prize in 2002.
The four winners were selected by an independent peer assessment committee consisting of Alison Black, concertmaster of the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra and member of the Atlantic String Quartet (St. John’s, NL); Louise Bessette, pianist and Montreal Conservatory of Music teacher (Montreal); Ian McDougall, trombonist and former head of the Music Department of the University of Victoria (Victoria); and Patricia Green, mezzo-soprano and member of the Music Faculty at Michigan State University (Howell, Michigan).
Jasper Wood, violinist
Jasper Wood has “a control that’s rare in violinists his age” … ”complete mastery of the technical fireworks required” … “gorgeous sound and brilliant control” … “Wood was in total command”. These are only few of the critical accolades establishing Mr. Wood as one of the finest violinists of his generation and one of North America’s fastest rising stars.
Jasper Wood was born into a musical family of six brothers and sisters in Moncton, New Brunswick, and gave his first public performance at the age of five. Since then he has captured the hearts of music lovers with his “ability to recreate lyric poetry”. He has received rave reviews for his performances throughout North America. An acclaimed competition winner, he has won numerous prizes and awards in the United States, Canada and Europe. Mr. Wood received the Sylva Gelber Award in 1996.
Jasper Wood made his orchestral debut at the age of 13 with Symphony Nova Scotia under Maestro George Tintner. Since then, he has performed extensively as a soloist and chamber musician throughout North America. Mr. Wood can be heard frequently on National Public Radio in the United States and with CBC radio and television in Canada. An avid chamber musician, he has performed with various groups ranging from baroque to contemporary ensembles.
In September 2003, the Canada Council awarded him a three-year loan of the 1700 Taft Stradivari violin which was lent to the Council by an anonymous donor.
Kaori Yamagami, cellist
Originally from Maple, Ontario, Kaori Yamagami began studying the cello in 1985 at the age of three, making her first public appearance at age six at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. She has taken first prize at numerous competitions, including the Philadelphia Orchestra Competition, the Kingsville International Competition, both the Junior and Senior divisions at the Montreal Symphony Competition and the JAA Music Awards in New York; she was named the "Most Promising Candidate" in the Rostropovich International Competition. Ms. Yamagami also won the first prize at the 2001 CBC National Competition for Young Performers.
Kaori Yamagami enrolled at the Curtis Institute of Music at age 13 under the direction of Orlando Cole and has also studied with Mihai Tetel, Vladimir Orloff, Daniel Domb, Paul Katz and Mario Brunello. She recently participated in the annual Prairie Debut and Debut Atlantic tours. She is the recipient of the 2003 Beebe Fellowship, which is supporting her graduate studies in Köln, Germany. She participated, last year, in a studio recording session with the CBC Radio Orchestra in Vancouver.
In September 2003, the Canada Council awarded her a three-year loan of the ca. 1696 Bonjour Stradivari cello, which was lent to the Council by an anonymous donor, as well as the ca. 1850 Shaw-Adam cello bow from its Musical Instrument Bank.
Jocelyne Roy, flutist
Jocelyne Roy studied the flute with Marie-Andrée Benny and earned a graduate degree magna cum laude in flute from the Montreal Music Conservatory. This year she is continuing a program of specialized orchestral studies under Denis Bluteau at the Université de Montréal. Last fall, she performed as part of the 2003-2004 programming cycle of the Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal under the direction of Véronique Lacroix.
In the fall of 2003, Jocelyne Roy won second prize, woodwinds category, in the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Music Competition. That same year she received the Marusia Yaworska Graduate Music Scholarship from the University of Ottawa in recognition of her excellence on the national and international scene (Canada and Ukraine). As a concert musician, Jocelyne Roy has played with various ensembles including the Montreal Symphony Orchestra in Children’s Concert/The Mozart Experience, the Orchestre Symphonique du Conservatoire de Montréal and the Orchestre Symphonique des Jeunes de Montréal.
In 2002-2003, she took part in the DÉBUT INC. and Jeunes artistes Radio-Canada competitions, with her two recitals being aired on Radio-Canada. Jocelyne Roy has won music competitions in Canada including at the Festival Royaume in Jonquière, the A.R.A.M. (Association de Repentigny pour l'Avancement de la Musique) and the Festival-Concours de Lanaudière. This summer, following international auditions, she will train with the Stuttgart Festival Orchestra in Germany under Jean-Claude Gérard and Helmuth Rilling. Jocelyne Roy will pursue her studies under Maestro Robert Langevin at the Manhattan School of Music in New York in January 2005.
Shannon Mercer, soprano
An alumna of the prestigious Merola Opera Program, Shannon Mercer is one of Canada’s finest young sopranos and has been named as one of the Leaders of Tomorrow by Maclean’s Magazine. The Ottawa native began her operatic career as a member of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio in Toronto and completed this program in June 2002. Ms. Mercer made her mainstage debut with the COC as a Madrigalist in Henze’s Venus und Adonis, a role she repeated with the Rotterdam Philharmonic at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Ms. Mercer returned last season and received unanimous rave reviews for her scene-stealing performance as Oscar in the COC’s Un ballo in maschera, following this with a hysterically befuddled Elvira in the production of L’Italiana in Algeri.
Shannon Mercer is also an accomplished concert and recital artist. After participating in the Merola Opera Summer Program affiliated with the San Francisco Opera in the summer of 2002, she was asked to make her Schwabacher Debut Recital there in February 2003. Ms. Mercer made her National Arts Centre/CBC Debut Recital in Ottawa last June and her Aldeburgh Connection recital debut at Glenn Gould Studio in Toronto last May.
Shannon Mercer’s recent performances include a tour of the Canadian prairie provinces with the Montreal based period instrument ensemble Les Voix Baroques and Handel’s Saul with the Ottawa Choral Society. Most recently she performed the role of Oberto in Handel’s Alcina with Les Violons du Roy under the baton of Bernard Labadie. This summer Shannon Mercer will participate in the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival and will record her first CD for Analekta with the Montreal based period instrument group Masques. Next season she makes her Opera Lyra Ottawa debut in the role of Lucy in Menotti’s The Telephone and the role of Laetitia in Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief.
Prize ceremonies
The Canada Council will present the Virginia Parker Prize to Jasper Wood and the Sylva Gelber Foundation Award to Kaori Yamagami at a performance featuring winners of the Canada Council’s 2003 Musical Instrument Bank Competition. The concert, Stradivarius on Stage, will take place on Saturday, 19 June at 8 pm at the Mount Royal Chalet, during the Montreal Chamber Music Festival. The Canada Council will present the Bernard Diamant Award to Shannon Mercer during her concert at the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival. She will perform on Monday, August 2 at 8 pm at the Dominion Chalmers United Church. Jocelyne Roy will be presented with the Sylva Gelber Foundation Award at a date and a place to be determined.
General information
The Canada Council for the Arts, in addition to its principal role of promoting and fostering the arts in Canada, administers and awards nearly 100 prizes and fellowships in the arts, humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, health sciences and engineering. Other noteworthy prizes administered by the Council are the Canada Council Molson Prizes, the Jules Léger Prize, the Governor General’s Literary Awards, the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts and the Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts.
For more information about these awards, including nomination procedures, contact Carol Bream, Director of Endowments and Prizes, at (613) 566-4414, or 1-800-263-5588, ext. 5041.
E-mail: carol.bream@canadacouncil.ca; or Janet Riedel, Endowments and Prizes Officer, at (613) 566-4414, or 1 800 263-5588, ext. 4116. E-mail: janet.riedel@canadacouncil.ca.
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Tous les documents du Conseil des Arts du Canada sont offerts en français et en anglais.
Kaori Yamagami
John Hobday, Director of the Canada Council for the Arts, presented the Sylva Gelber Foundation Award valued at 15 000$, to Kaori Yamagami during the June 19 “Stradivarius on Stage” concert at the Montreal Chamber Music Festival.
Jasper Wood
John Hobday, Director of the Canada Council for the Arts, presented the Virginia Parker Prize, valued at 25 000$, to Jasper Wood during the June 19 “Stradivarius on Stage” concert at the Montreal Chamber of Music Festival.
Instrument Bank recipients
From left to right : John Hobday, Director of the Canada Council for the Arts with Hermine Gagné, Alexandre Da Costa, Kaori Yamagami and Jasper Wood, Musical Instrument Bank of the Canada Council for the Arts recipients.