R. Murray Schafer
First Laureate of the Glenn Gould Prize
Fusing theatre, mythology and environmentalism with classic music and performance art.
Biography
R. Murray Schafer (born Sarnia, Ontario, 1933, died 2021) won national and international acclaim not only for his achievement as a composer, but also as an educator, environmentalist, literary scholar, journalist, visual artist, and provocateur. He wrote more than 70 compositions, ranging from orchestral and vocal pieces to musical theatre and multimedia rituals. In his music and in his writings he repeatedly challenged and transcended orthodox approaches to the relationships among music, performer, audience and setting. He expanded the potential and appreciation of music and its place in the arts and culture of our time.
First Glenn Gould Prize Gala
The Glenn Gould Prize Celebration Dinner was held November 20, 1987 at the Four Seasons Hotel, Toronto.
The late, Sir Yehudi Menuhin – a member of the jury, who subsequently became the laureate of The Second Glenn Gould Prize – praised Schafer for his “strong, benevolent, and highly original imagination and intellect, a dynamic power whose manifold personal expression and aspirations are in total accord with the urgent needs and dreams of humanity today.”
— Penny Johnson
Related
R. Murray Schafer, first Glenn Gould Prize laureate, dies at age 88
First Prize Laureate R. Murray Schafer To Receive Honorary Doctorate
The First Prize Jury
Robert Aitken
Canada
Flautist And Composer. He is the youngest principal flautist in the history of the Vancouver symphony Orchestra. He has appeared as a soloist with major symphony orchestras throughout North America, Europe and Asia and has made more than 40 commercial recordings. From 1988 to 2004, Aitken was a member of the music faculty at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Freiberg, Germany. He is a former faculty member of the University of Toronto and the Shawnigan Summer School of Arts and was director of advanced studies in music at the Banff Centre.
V.K. Narayana Menon
India
Scholar Of Indian Classical Dance And Music. Art critic of India and a Sangeet Akademi Fellowship, deputy director of All India Radio, secretary of Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi and President of National Centre for the Performing Arts – Bombay. The Indian government honoured him with a civilian award called The Padma Bhushan in 1969.
Sir Yehudi Menuhin
United Kingdom
American-born British violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in Britain. Widely considered one of the great violinists of the 20th century. He is the recipient of the second Glenn Gould Prize.
Bruno Monsaingeon
France
Filmmaker, Writer, and Violinist.
Gilles Potvin
Canada
Music Critic and Historian. Served as editor of The Canada Music Book and President of the Jeunesses musicales du Canada. Co-editor of The Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. Wrote program notes for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, worked for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in a number of roles. Served as chief editor of the Anthology of Canadian Music collection compiled by the CBC. Founded the Minute Opera. Awarded the Calixa-Lavalée Award, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a Member of the Order of Canada. He received the Canadian Music Council Meal and made an honorary member of the Canadian Music Centre.
John Peter Lee Roberts
Canada
Founder and President of the Glenn Gould Foundation and former Dean of Fine Arts at the University of Calgary. Officer of the Order of Canada.
Ghennadi Rozhdestvensky
U.S.S.R
Soviet and Russian conductor. Became artistic director of the Bolshoi Theatre, in 2001 conducted the world premier of the original version of Sergei Prokofiev’s opera The Gambler. Named of People’s Artist of the USSR in 1976 and a Hero of Socialist Labour in 1990.
Dr. Wilfried Scheib
Austria
Television pioneer
Maureen Forrester, Chair of the jury
Canada
Operatic Contralto. Touring extensively in Canada and Europe with Jeunesses Musicales. Sang Cornelia in Handel’s Giulio Cesare (1966). Sang at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1975 in Das Rheingold , Siegfried, and Un ballo in maschera.