GG awards bridge the musical divide
Brendan Kelly - National Post
February 24, 2010

Montreal conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin has won a lot of awards and honours in his career, but he was particularly touched to learn he had been picked to receive this year's National Arts Centre Award. This is one of the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards, which will be presented by Governor General Michaelle Jean at Rideau Hall in Ottawa on April 30. The recipients of this year's awards were announced yesterday morning in Montreal at an event attended by Jean.

Rocker Bryan Adams, Montreal theatreactress anddirector Francoise Faucher, Montreal choreographer Edouard Lock, former Toronto Symphony Orchestra managing director Walter Homburger, theatre director Robin Phillips and Oscarwinning singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie have each been named recipients of this year's Governor General's Performing Arts Awards for lifetime artistic achievement. Each award, including the National Arts Centre Award, comes with $25,000 and a commemorative medallion from the Royal Canadian Mint.

The award won by Nezet-Seguin is in recognition of his achievement over the past year, a time when his star has continued to rise, both in Canada and around the globe. He is artistic director and principal conductor of the Orchestre Metropolitain du Grand Montreal -- which just unveiled its 2010-2011 season earlier in the week -- and he's also music director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

"It's a tremendous honour to be part of such prestigious company," Nezet-Seguin said. "I see this as wonderful support from my own country. I've always been privileged in my career to be supported from coast-to-coast."

The prize is recognition of the success he's experienced over the past 12 months, but the hotshot conductor is at pains to underline that he's no overnight success story.

"To me, I feel that this [past] year is organically related to all the years before," Nezet-Seguin said.

"I don't mean by this that everything that arrived I deserved," he continued. "Since I've started my career, it's been like a dream come true. I've been privileged to make music in Montreal, and now it's happening more internationally. But I feel the same attachment to the music and to the musicians. For me, it's the same act of sharing music and emotions with other people. It just happens to be more international than before."

In addition to Nezet-Seguin, Faucher, Homburger and Phillips were on hand for the announcement yesterday, but Adams, Lock and Sainte-Marie were unable to make the event.

Adams is one of Canada's top-selling pop stars. Faucher has performed onstage in Montreal for six decades. Homburger spent 25 years as managing director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Lock is the founder of internationally acclaimed Montreal modern dance troupe La La La Human Steps. Phillips is a former artistic director of the Stratford Festival. Sainte-Marie is a singer-songwriter best known for the Oscar-winning song Up Where We Belong.