We hope you’ve had a great start to the New Year. We’re preparing for a very busy time leading up to the announcement of our 2016 laureates on April 14 and the nomination deadline for the 2017 Awards on April 29, 2016. As I mentioned in our
last blog post, things are quite different in preparation for the 2017 Awards. We’ve officially launched our nominations campaign. Anyone can
nominate an artist or volunteer for a GGPAA all year ‘round but we want to get the word out that nominations close in April this year instead of at the end of September. With the changes in our yearly schedule, we’re already working on preparing our peer juries which is normally done over the summer. It’s all very exciting.
We’d like to highlight some news that came in over the holidays. The latest appointments to the Order of Canada were announced.
Atom Egoyan (Film 2015) and
Angela Hewitt (NAC Award 2002) were both promoted within the Order to the title of Companion of the Order of Canada.
Diane Dufresne (Popular Music 2001) was named a Member of the Order of Canada. On January 20,
Anton Kuerti (Classical Music 2008) received the Order of Ontario. Congratulations to all our laureates on these pretigious honours!
We were saddened to hear of the passing of rock icon David Bowie on January 10 at the age of 69. Mr. Bowie collaborated with L
a La La Human Steps and performed work choreographed by
Edouard Lock with
Louise Lecavalier. On her
Facebook page, Ms. Lecavalier wrote a touching tribute to her friend and artistic partner, David Bowie. Mr. Lock also left a tribute to Mr. Bowie on the
La La La Human Steps Facebook page. Both are worth reading as the world mourns the loss of such an incredible talent.
We also send our condolences to the families and colleagues of Brian Bedford and William Needles, both giants of the stage. Mr. Needles was a veteran of 47 seasons with the Stratford Festival and passed away at the age of 97. Mr. Bedford was with the Stratford Festival for 29 seasons. He died of cancer at the age of 80. Finally, our hearts go out to Céline Dion and her family as they mourn the loss of René Angélil, Ms. Dion’s husband and former manager, who passed away on January 14, days before his 74
th birthday. Mr. Angélil propelled Ms. Dion to international stardom and managed the career of
Ginette Reno in the 1970s. We’re only weeks into 2016 and we’re hoping the rest of the year is much more positive for Canadian artists.
Make sure to be on the lookout for our next blog post. Our 2015 Mentorship Program protégée, composer Nicole Lizée, talks about working with the formidable Howard Shore.
Until then, thanks for reading.
Jami
Photos: Top - Atom Egoyan and his wife Arsinée Khanjian on the red carpet at the 2015 GGPAA Gala.
By George Pimentel
Below - Louise Lecavalier and David Bowie