Ottawa, February 22, 2005 -- The Canada Council for the Arts, the Canadian Music Centre and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Société Radio-Canada announced today that composer Patrick Saint-Denis is the winner of the 2004 Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music. The Quebec City native received the prize for his composition Les dits de Victoire, a work for string octet. The prize will be presented during the Montreal/New Music International Festival, at the Quatuor Bozzini concert on Saturday, March 5 at 9:15 p.m., in Salle Pierre Mercure at the Centre Pierre Péladeau, 300 de Maisonneuve Boulevard East, in Montreal. Quatuor Bozzini, assisted by additional string players, will perform Les dits de Victoire. The concert will be broadcast, at a future date yet to be determined, on the new music show hosted by Mario Paquet, Sundays at 10 p.m. on Radio-Canada's Espace Musique and on Two New Hours, hosted by Larry Lake, also on Sundays at 10 p.m., on CBC Radio Two. Awarded annually, the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music is a competition designed to encourage the creation of new Canadian chamber music and to foster its performance by Canadian chamber groups. The $7,500 prize was established in 1978 by the Right Honourable Jules Léger, then Governor General of Canada. The competition for the prize is administered by the Canadian Music Centre. The Canada Council funds the award, selects the peer assessment committee and organizes the presentation ceremony. The national radio broadcasts are arranged by CBC Radio Two and Radio-Canada's Espace Musique. The members of the peer assessment committee for the 2004 Jules Léger Prize were composer Malcolm Forsyth (Edmonton), composer Melissa Hui (Vancouver) and pianist Brigitte Poulin (Montreal). In awarding the prize to Patrick Saint-Denis, the jury said: "Les dits de Victoire by Patrick Saint-Denis is compelling and attractive in its sonic appeal. Its economy and skilful integration of composition and instrumentation stand out for their distinctiveness. The material is not only clear and articulate, it is sumptuously expressive." The jury made a special mention of two other candidates for the Jules Léger Prize: the second place went to Peter Hannan, Vancouver, for 2 Words, and the third place to Nicole Lizée, Montreal, for Left Brain/Right Brain. Of Peter Hannan's 2 Words, the jury said: "Peter Hannan's 2 Words is a startling departure from the mainstream. Its humour and originality are a refreshing mixture of influences - melodic, rhythmic, never banal. It is a unique arrangement of voice, theremin and live electronics." Of the composition by Nicole Lizée, the jury said: "Nicole Lizée's Left Brain/Right Brain introduces us to a frank and original voice. Its edgy approach offers a gritty, industrial interpretation of chamber music." Previous winners of the Jules Léger Prize include Éric Morin, Yannick Plamondon, Chris Paul Harman, André Ristic, Alexina Louie, Michael Oesterle, Omar Daniel, Christos Hatzis, John Burke, Peter Paul Koprowski, Bruce Mather, John Rea, Donald Steven, Michael Colgrass, Denys Bouliane, Michel Longtin, Brian Cherney, John Hawkins, Walter Boudreau, Serge Garant and R. Murray Schafer. Patrick Saint-DenisBorn in Quebec City in 1975, Patrick Saint-Denis studied composition in the music conservatories of Quebec City, Montreal and The Hague (Netherlands). His main teachers were Serge Provost, Clarence Barlow and Louis Andriessen. His catalogue features a dozen works including: Les dits de Victoire, for string octet (First prize in the 2003 SOCAN Awards for Young Composers, Serge Garant Award), Le Discours aux animaux, for orchestra (First prize in the 2002 SOCAN Awards for Young Composers, Sir Ernest Macmillan Award) and Berceuse pour enfants perdus, for chamber orchestra and female voice (First prize in the 2003 SOCAN Awards, Godfrey Ridout Award). His music has been performed in North America, Europe and Asia in festivals such as the International Gaudeamus Music Week (Netherlands, 2003, 2004). His music transports us into a world of emotion and memory, where questions of identity and history come into play. His influences are various, and include Charles Ives, Anton Webern and Gérard Grisey, as well as Anne Teresa de Keersmaker, Robert Lepage, Peter Handke and Ann Hamilton. He is currently working on a piece of musical theatre based on Virginia Woolf's novel The Waves. Patrick Saint-Denis has enjoyed the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec. He currently resides in The Hague. General informationThe Canada Council for the Arts, in addition to its principal role of promoting and fostering the arts in Canada, administers and awards more than 100 prizes and fellowships in the arts and humanities. Other music awards include the Sylva Gelber Foundation Award, the Virginia Parker Prize and loans of fine stringed instruments through the Musical Instrument Bank. Other noteworthy prizes administered by the Council are the Canada Council Molson Prizes, the Governor General's Literary Awards, the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts, the Killam Prizes and the Killam Research Fellowships, and the Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts. - 30 - For more information about these awards, including nomination procedures, contact Janet Riedel Pigott, Acting Director of Endowments and Prizes, at (613) 566-4414 or 1 800 263 5588, ext. 5041; or Danielle Sarault, Acting Endowments and Prizes Officer, at (613) 566-4414 or 1-800-263-5588, ext. 4116.
