NACO's Apprentice Conductor Jean-Philippe Tremblay is the recipient of the $10,000 Joyce Conger Award for the Arts
July 03, 2002 -
Ottawa, Canada -- Jean-Philippe Tremblay, the National Arts Centre
Orchestra's Apprentice Conductor, has been named the first
winner of the Joyce Conger Award for the Arts
valued at $10,000. Tremblay was
presented with his Award by Stuart Conger, husband of the late Joyce
Conger, at a ceremony following the final concert of the 2002 NAC
Conductors Programme on Wednesday, July 3. Tremblay was a graduate of
the 2001 inaugural edition of the NAC Conductors Programme, which led
to his current appointment with the NAC Orchestra.
The Joyce Conger Award will be presented annually to young
musicians under the age of 30 who show exceptional promise, a deep
love of music, and a determination to develop their talent
successfully. Candidates are jointly chosen by the Music Director,
the concertmaster, and the Managing Director of the National Arts
Centre Orchestra. The Awards come from the Joyce Conger Fund for the
Arts which is administered by the Community Foundation of Ottawa. The
Fund was created in memory of Joyce Conger to support outstanding
young artists and to provide them with exceptional opportunities to
develop and showcase their talents to the fullest.
The Awards are to be applied towards participation in artistic
developmental programmes at the National Arts Centre, or, if
appropriate, study or performance opportunities elsewhere.
Jean-Philippe Tremblay will use his award to continue in the second
year of his apprenticeship with the National Arts Centre Orchestra to
the end of the 2002-2003 season.
"I am very pleased to see Jean-Philippe receive this award that
was created to celebrate Joyce's life and her passion for the
arts, and to nurture the talents of young artists in her name.
Jean-Philippe embodies the talents that I had hoped the Fund would
encourage and assist," said Stuart Conger in making the award
presentation.
Jean-Philippe Tremblay biography
Born in Chicoutimi in 1978, Jean-Philippe Tremblay is considered
one of the most promising orchestra conductors in Canada. In June
2001, he was one of nine conductors chosen from Canada and abroad to
participate in the National Arts Centre's first annual
Conductors Programme led by maestros Jorma Panula and Pinchas
Zukerman. This led to his appointment to the newly created position
of Apprentice Conductor of the NAC Orchestra, funded in part by the
Canada Council for the Arts' Conductor-in-Residence Programme, and in
part through the generous support and leadership of William and
Phyllis Waters, James and Margaret Fleck, and Sandra Simpson - all of
Toronto. Mr. Tremblay's second season at the NAC is made
possible through the Joyce Conger Award for the Arts (administered by
the Community Foundation of Ottawa).
Trained in viola, composition and conducting at the Quebec Music
Conservatory in Chicoutimi, the faculty of music at the University of
Montreal, the Pierre Monteux School, and the Tanglewood Music Center
as well as at the Royal Academy of Music (London), his professors
included Seiji Ozawa, Robert Spano, André Previn, Michael
Jinbo and Claude Monteux.
During the summer of 2000, invited by Seiji Ozawa and Robert
Spano, he became one of the youngest Conducting Fellows at the
Tanglewood Music Center. In 2002, Tremblay became the first Canadian
selected to participate in the National Conducting Institute, a
project of the National Symphony Orchestra and the John F. Kennedy
Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC, culminating in a
concert with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center on
June 29.
Jean-Philippe Tremblay is the music director and conductor of the
L'Orchestre de la francophonie canadienne, an orchestra of young
musicians created in honour of the IV Games of the Francophonie in
July 2001. In July 2002 the Orchestra continues with concerts in
Quebec City and Montreal, and at the Domaine Forget International
Festival, and the National Arts Centre.
Mr. Tremblay first conducted the NAC Orchestra during the final
concert of the Conductors Programme in the summer of 2001. As
Apprentice Conductor he led the Orchestra during two concerts in the
2001-02 season and will conduct a number of concerts in 2002-03.
