Ottawa, December 1, 2010 – The Canada Council for the Arts announced today that composer Justin Christensen is the winner of the 2010 Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music for the work The Failures of Marsyas. The work was created for seven musicians and premiered in April 2009 at the Arnold Schönbergzaal in the Netherlands by the New European Ensemble.
Listen to the piece or download an image of Mr. Christensen.
Established in 1978 by the Right Honourable Jules Léger, then Governor General of Canada, the $7500 prize is designed to encourage the creation of new Canadian chamber music and to foster its performance by Canadian chamber groups.
Of The Failures of Marsyas the peer assessment committee said, "This is a piece that holds itself beautifully, featuring a fresh use of glissandi, interesting groupings of instruments and a great care in the orchestration. A strong and surprising work, it teases the listener into thinking that things will fall apart."
Justin Christensen is currently pursuing a PhD in the United Kingdom with Michal Finnissy. He completed degrees in music composition at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in the Netherlands and in music composition and trumpet performance at McGill University. His past teachers include Louis Andriessen, Clarence Barlow, Martijn Padding, Richard Ayres, Diderik Wagenaar and John Rea. Among other prizes and awards, he received the J.B.C. Watkins Award from the Canada Council in 2007. His compositions have been performed by the Asko Ensemble, Nieuw Ensemble, Insomnio, Aventa Ensemble, Continuum Contemporary Music Canada, New European Ensemble, and Modelo62 and at festivals such as Gaudeamus New Music Week and Ostrava Days Festival. In 2010, his music has been performed in Canada, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Sweden.
This annual prize is a three-way partnership between the Canada Council for the Arts, the Canadian Music Centre and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Société Radio-Canada who broadcasts the winning work nationally on CBC Radio 2 and Espace Musique,
Radio-Canada's music network.
The members of the committee for the Jules Léger Prize were composers Christopher Butterfield (Victoria), André Ristic (Quebec City) and Linda Catlin Smith (Toronto). The committee was a "blind jury" which evaluated the works without knowing the names of the composers.
The jury made a special mention of two other works submitted for the Jules Léger Prize: Cepheid Variables by Michael Oesterle, and Octagonal Boom by Graham Flett.
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 is committed to raising public awareness and celebrating these exceptional people and organizations on both a national and an international level.
Find a complete listing of these awards.
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Carole Breton
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