Ottawa, September 4, 2013 – The two-time JUNO Award winning Gryphon Trio is the 2013 winner of the $30,000 Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts. The Trio, consisting of violinist Annalee Patipatanakoon, cellist Roman Borys and pianist Jamie Parker, celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. For two decades, they have engaged audiences around the world with their dynamic musicianship.
Download images of the Gryphon Trio.
“Members of the Gryphon Trio are outstanding musicians in their own right, but together they achieve something greater than the sum of the parts,” said Robert Sirman, Canada Council for the Arts Director and CEO. “The Canada Council applauds their commitment to encouraging emerging and established composers and fostering a new generation of music lovers.”
The Walter Carsen Prize, administered and presented by the Canada Council for the Arts, recognizes the highest level of artistic excellence and distinguished career achievement by Canadian artists who have spent the major part of their career in Canada in dance, theatre or music. The award was created through a generous donation of $1.1 million to the Canada Council by the late Toronto businessman and philanthropist Walter Carsen. The prize is awarded annually on a four‑year cycle: dance, theatre, dance, music.
The peer assessment committee consisted of Brainerd Blyden-Taylor (Toronto), Louise Forand-Samson (Montreal) and Earl Stafford (Winnipeg). They noted that, “The Gryphon Trio certainly lives up to the mythological characteristics of their name. Stability is the bedrock of these three exceptional musicians who think, breathe and act as one. Theirs is a powerful and majestic sound, regardless of musical genre.”
The Gryphon Trio was nominated by Lesley Robertson, a member of the St. Lawrence String Quartet and Artist-in-Residence at Stanford University.
Annalee Patipatanakoon (violin), Roman Borys (cello), Jamie Parker (piano)
Since forming in Toronto in 1993, the Gryphon Trio has established itself as one of the world’s leading piano trios. With a repertoire that ranges from the traditional to the contemporary and from European classicism to New World jazz and popular song, the Trio is committed to redefining chamber music for the 21st Century.
The Gryphon Trio tours regularly throughout North America and Europe and has performed in Finland, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Egypt, Kuwait and Mexico. Their sixteen recordings on the Analekta, Naxos, Ondine, and Centrediscs labels are an encyclopedia of works for the genre, winning two JUNO Awards and eight nominations. The ensemble has commissioned over 75 new works and frequently collaborates with other instrumentalists, singers, narrators, actors, dancers, and visual artists. The Trio has a long-standing relationship with Music TORONTO, has worked closely with The Banff Centre, Soundstreams Canada and Tapestry New Opera, and has appeared with, among many others, the Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, and Kitchener-Waterloo Symphonies.
Deeply committed to the education of the next generations of audiences and performers alike, the Trio conducts master classes and workshops at universities and conservatories internationally. In 2010, the Gryphon Trio launched its flagship educational project Listen Up!, which teaches the basics of musical composition to participants of all ages. Listen Up! projects have since taken place in the Ontarian communities of Almonte, Hamilton, Midland, and Ottawa, and will travel to Powell River, BC and Parry Sound, Ont. in 2013-14.
Roman Borys is Artistic Director of the Ottawa Chamber Music Society and Annalee Patipatanakoon and Jamie Parker serve as Artistic Advisors. The Trio members are Artists-in-Residence at Trinity College and the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, where Mr. Parker is the Rupert E. Edwards Chair in Piano Performance and Ms. Patipatanakoon is Associate Professor of Violin.
The Canada Council for the Arts is Canada's national arts funder. Its grants to artists and organizations contribute to a vibrant arts scene in Canada. Its awards celebrate creativity by recognizing exceptional Canadians in the arts, humanities and sciences. The Canada Council Art Bank is a national collection of over 17,000 Canadian contemporary artworks – all accessible to the public through rental, loan and outreach programs. The Canadian Commission for UNESCO operates under the general authority of the Canada Council.
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