RCM Musicians Win Big at 2021 JUNO Awards
RCM Musicians Win Big at 2021 JUNO Awards
Published on June 7, 2021
The Royal Conservatory of Music community was well represented at the 2021 JUNO Awards on June 6, with RCM alumni, Honorary Fellows, and Koerner Hall artists winning in several music categories.
Ensemble Made In Canada: Elissa Lee, violin (RCM alumna), Angela Park, piano, Sharon Wei, viola (RCM alumna), and Rachel Mercer, cello. (Photo courtesy of the artists)
Ensemble Made In Canada, which features
Elissa Lee (violin) and
Sharon Wei (viola), alumnae of
The Phil and Eli Taylor Performance Academy for Young Artists (then known as The Young Artist Performance Academy), took home Classical Album of the Year: Solo or Chamber for
Mosaïque. The
Mosaïque album features a commissioned suite of piano quartets by 14 Canadian composers, including RCM alumni
David Braid,
Andrew Downing, and
Sarah Slean;
as well as
Barbara Croall, alumna of The Glenn Gould School (GGS),
Kevin Lau, GGS faculty member, and Koerner Hall artists
Samy Moussa and
Ana Sokolović.
Other RCM winners include:
- Joshua Hopkins (baritone), an alumnus of the RCM Certificate Program, for Classical Album of the Year: Vocal or Choral for Massenet: Thaïs, a recording with the late Erin Wall (soprano), who participated in Koener Hall's grand opening concert in 2009, Andrew Staples, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (featuring faculty of The Glenn Gould School), and conducted by Sir Andrew Davis (Honorary Fellow).
- L’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal conducted by Kent Nagano (alumnus) and featuring Andrew Wan (Koerner Hall artist), was awarded Classical Album of the Year: Large Ensemble for Ginastera - Bernstein - Moussa: Œuvres pour violon et orchestre / Works for Violin and Orchestra.
- Samy Moussa (Koerner Hall artist) took home the prize for Classical Composition of the Year for Violin Concerto "Adrano". Andrew Wan was the violin soloist.
- Sammy Jackson (Koerner Hall artist) was awarded Vocal Jazz Album of the Year for With You.
- Bahamas (Koerner Hall artist) won for Adult Alternative Album of the Year.
- Cuban duo OKAN (Koerner Hall artist) was awarded World Music Album of the Year for Espiral.
Also nominated for 2021 JUNO Awards were several other RCM alumni, Honorary Fellows, and Koerner Hall artists.
The full list of 2021 JUNO award winners can be found here.