The Canada Council for the Arts Announces its 2020 CCPrize Winners

This page is also available in / Cette page est également disponible en: Francais (French)

The Canada Council for the Arts is delighted to reward exceptional artists whose contributions enhance Canada’s artistic landscape. Today, we are announcing the winners of three prizes that recognize excellence in the performing arts and classical music.

This year’s winners include an innovative Indigenous choreographer and artistic director, an emerging and internationally recognized conductor, and a composer who has created pieces for Canada’s most prominent orchestras and ensembles.

Margaret Grenier: Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts ($50,000)

Photo: Chris Randle

Margaret Grenier, B.Sc., M.A., is the Executive and Artistic Director of the Dancers of Damelahamid and the Producer of the Coastal Dance Festival. Margaret’s multimedia choreographic works bridge Gitxsan and Cree dance forms with current expressions and have contributed to a redefining of contemporary Indigenous dance. Her works have toured nationally and internationally. Her most recent work, Mînowin, premiered at the 2019 Mòshkamo Festival at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, and it was presented at the 2019 Festival Internacional Cervantino in Guanajuato, Mexico.

Jordan de Souza: Virginia Parker Prize ($25,000)

Photo: Neda Navaee

Canadian conductor Jordan de Souza, who is part of the “new generation leading Berlin’s classical scene” (New York Times), is in increasing demand in theatres worldwide. Recent highlights include the Bayerische Staatsoper, the Vienna Symphony, the Adelaide Symphony, the Orchestre Métropolitain, and the Komische Oper Berlin, where he served as 1. Kapellmeister from 2017 to 2020. Upcoming debuts include the Teatro Gran del Liceu, the Zurich Opera, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Chicago Lyric Opera, the Orchestre symphonique de Québec and the Glyndebourne Festival. Mr. de Souza previously served as conductor-in-residence for the Tapestry Opera, conducting the world premiere of three full-length operas.

Kelly-Marie Murphy: Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music ($7,500)

Photo: Alan Dean

With music described as “breathtaking” (Kitchener-Waterloo Record), “imaginative and expressive” (The National Post), “a pulse-pounding barrage on the senses” (The Globe and Mail), and “Bartok on steroids” (Birmingham News), Kelly-Marie Murphy’s voice is well known on the Canadian music scene.

Born on a NATO base in Italy and raised on military installations across Canada, Kelly-Marie Murphy’s studies in composition began at the University of Calgary with William Jordan and Allan Gordon Bell. She later received a Ph.D. in composition from the University of Leeds, England. Dr. Murphy was the winner of the Azrieli Music Prize (2018).

After living and working for many years in the Washington D.C. area where she was designated “an alien of extraordinary ability” by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service, she is now based in Ottawa.