Ottawa, February 10, 2009 – The Canada Council for the Arts announced today that the work Que sommes-nous by composer Analia Llugdar is the winner of the 2008 Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music. The work was commissioned by Radio-Canada and was premiered by the Ensemble contemporain de Montréal+, under the baton of Véronique Lacroix, in May 2008.
This annual award is a partnership between the Canada Council, Canadian Music Centre and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Société Radio-Canada. The prize is 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 prize presentation ceremony. Every year, the winning work is broadcast nationally by CBC Radio 2 and Espace musique, Radio-Canada’s music network. Que sommes-nous will be broadcast by CBC Radio 2 on June 14 and 16 between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. on The Signal, with hosts Pat Carrabré and Laurie Brown, and on Espace musique on May 14 during the Soirées classiques between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m., hosted by Michel Keable.
The members of the peer assessment committee for the 2008 Jules Léger Prize were composer and pianist John Burge (Kingston, ON), composer John Oliver (New Westminster, BC) and composer Isabelle Panneton (Montreal). The committee was a “blind jury” which evaluated the works without knowing the names of the composers.
Of Que sommes-nous the jury said, “This piece displays virtuosic instrumental writing of the highest order, scored with a deftness that energizes the texture to masterfully combine transparency and density. This work is also characterized by a huge release of breath that supports it as it unfolds in an unforeseeable and always captivating way.”
The jury made a special mention of two other works submitted for the Jules Léger Prize. Icebergs et soleil de minuit — Quatuor en blanc by Simon Martin, which was premiered by Quatuor Bozzini in April 2007, and Big City, Little City by Michael Oesterle, which was premiered by Steven Dann and the Soundstreams Canada Chamber Ensemble in October 2007.
An image of Ms. Llugdar can be downloaded from the Canada Council image gallery.
Born in Argentina in 1972, Analia Llugdar studied piano and composition at Córdoba National University, Argentina. She continued her composition studies at University de Montréal, where she completed a master with José Evangelista and a PhD in Music composition with Denis Gougeon.
She has received several awards for her work, including First Prize in the Composition Competition of the Orchestre de l’Université de Montréal, the Canada Council for the Arts Grand Prize for the CBC Young Composers Competition (2002), and the Jeunesses Musicales du Canada Award. She has also received the Québec-Flandres Prize 2007 and a special mention for Le chêne et le roseau in the 2006 Jules Léger Prize competition.
Her music has been performed by the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, the Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal+, the Trio Fibonacci, Prémices duet, the Laval Symphony Orchestra (Quebec), the Enfants Terribles, the ensemble S:I.C., the Ensemble de flûtes Alizé and the ensemble I solisti del vento.
Le chêne et le roseau represented Canada at the 52nd International Rostrum of composers. Several of her works were performed at festivals including the Montréal Nouvelle Musique (MNM), the Conference of Contemporary Music (Brussel), the International Society of Contemporary Music Concerts (Flandres), the Biennale Musiques en Scène 2008 (Lyon), the Voix Nouvelles festival (Royaumont, France), Domaine Forget (Quebec), the 2008 Cornerstone Festival (Liverpool) and the Huddersfield New Music Festival (Huddersfield, UK).
In addition to its principal role of promoting and fostering the arts, the Canada Council for the Arts administers and awards many prizes and fellowships in the arts, humanities, social sciences, natural and health sciences, engineering, and arts management. These prizes and fellowships recognize the achievements of outstanding Canadian artists, scholars, and administrators. The Canada Council for the Arts is committed to raising public awareness and celebration of these exceptional people and organizations on both a national and international level.
Please visit our website for a complete listing of these awards.
Carole Breton
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Grace Thrasher
Arts Promotion Coordinator
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