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Obituaries
Grace Bumbry (1937-2023)
Trailblazing American mezzo-soprano, considered to be one of the leading voices of her generation, dies at 86. She was the first singer of colour to perform at Bayreuth, in 1961.
Gordon Lightfoot (1938-2023)
Legendary Canadian folk musician dies at 84. With a repertoire of over 400 songs, the five-time Grammy nominee’s works have been covered by artists such as Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand, and Johnny Cash.
Jocelyn Morlock (1969-2023)
Canadian Juno Award-winning composer has died. Her work was championed by the National Arts Centre Orchestra, who commissioned her Juno-winning piece, My Name Is Amanda Todd, and played many of her other compositions.
Awards/Competitions
2023 Molson Prizes
Innu poet, filmmaker and speaker Joséphine Bacon announced as winner of the 2023 Molson Prize for the arts, for her literary and artistic work. The prize for social sciences and humanities was awarded to Françoise Baylis.
CMIM Violin
Ukrainian violinist Dmytro Udovychenko has won the Grand Prize (valued at $95,000) for this year’s edition of the Concours musical international de Montréal. He also took home the award for Best Performance of a Work by J.S. Bach. Second place was awarded to SongHa Choi, and third to SooBeen Lee, both of South Korea.
Opera Idol Competition
South Korean Baritone Seungchan Hong wins the 17th edition of the Opera Idol Competition, in New York City. Sponsored by the Tom Lysaught Scholarship Fund, the competition is run by the Sherrill Milnes VOICE Studio.
Metropolitan Opera Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition
The Met competition chose six winners this year, tenor Anthony León, mezzo-soprano Natalie Lewis, soprano Teresa Perrotta, mezzo-soprano Sarah Saturnino, bass-baritone Christian Simmons, and soprano Meredith Wohlgemuth. Chosen from an applicant pool of more than 1,200 over the course of the year’s competition rounds, they take home $20,000 each as winners of this 69th edition.
Beverly Sills Artist Award
Bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green has been named the winner of the Beverly Sills Artist Award for the second time. The award recognizes gifted singers with rising Met careers.
Klein String Competition
Canadian violist Emad Zolfaghari, has been named one of nine semi-finalists in this year’s Klein String Competition. Out of 111 entrants, the nine will compete for spots in the finals on June 3 and 4.
Pulitzer Prize for Music
Rhiannon Giddens and Michael Abels named Pulitzer Prize winners for their innovative new opera Omar, which tells the story of enslaved people brought to North America from Muslim countries.
Appointments/Retirement
Violinist Rachel Podger has been announced as the Principal Guest Director of Toronto’s Tafelmusik. In this role, Podger will direct recordings, selected tours, and three mainstage programs per season.
Tafelmusik also appoints Glenn Hodgins as Executive Director. The current President and CEO of the Canadian Music Centre (CMC) will join Tafelmusik on June 21, succeeding Daniela Nardi, who acted as Interim Executive Director.
The Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity has announced Megumi Masaki as Director of Music, beginning May 1. The pianist, multimedia artist, educator and curator will lead the Banff Centre’s music programming as it continues to garner international attention.
Calgary’s piano competition, Honens, announces John Kieser as their new President and CEO, effective July 2023. He will succeed Amanda Smith, who has been in the role since November 2022.
The National Arts Centre announces an extension of John Storgårds’s contract. Originally appointed in 2015, Storgårds will stay on as Principal Guest Conductor of the NAC Orchestra through the 2027-28 season.
Errata
February/March 2023: In the Andrew Balfour article, we misstated the age of the SMCQ. In 2023, the SMCQ is in its 57th season. We apologize for this error and another error on the start date of the festival.
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