The Glenn Gould Foundation Announces 15th Glenn Gould Prize Jury and Laureate Announcement Event

TORONTO (March 13, 2025) – The Glenn Gould Foundation is pleased to announce the distinguished jury for the 15th Glenn Gould Prize. The jury will convene in London on March 19, 2025, to deliberate and select the Glenn Gould Prize Laureate, with the announcement to be made on March 20 during a free lunchtime concert at Kings Place in Central London.  Tickets available here.

The Laureate will be awarded The Prize during a gala celebration in Toronto, Canada this fall. 

The Glenn Gould Prize, often referred to as the “Nobel Prize of the Arts,” is one of the most prestigious international awards recognizing a living individual of any nationality or creative field for a unique lifetime contribution that has enriched the human condition through the arts. Established in 1987 by The Glenn Gould Foundation to honour the legacy of the legendary Canadian pianist Glenn Gould, the prize is awarded biennially and includes a CDN$100,000 cash award for the Laureate, who also selects an exceptional young artist to receive the C$25,000 Glenn Gould Protégé Prize. 

The 15th Glenn Gould Prize jury is composed of 12 accomplished figures from music, literature, dance, politics, law, media, visual arts, film, and human rights and proudly includes: 

The Right Honourable Kim Campbell (Jury Chair) 

The Right Honourable Kim Campbell PC, CC, OBC, KC, is a former Canadian politician, lawyer and teacher who devotes her time to international work promoting the advancement of women, democratization and causes related to climate change. After holding elected office at all three levels of Canadian government, Kim Campbell served as Canada’s nineteenth and first female Prime Minister in 1993. She was also the first woman to hold the Justice and Defence portfolios and the first to be Defence Minister of a NATO country. She is a founding member of the Club de Madrid (the largest global forum of former democratically elected Presidents and Prime Ministers) and of the Council of Women World Leaders (current and former women Presidents and Prime Ministers)(Chair Emerita). She was global President of the International Women’s Forum. Trained as a Political Scientist (Soviet Specialist) and a lawyer, in 2014 Kim Campbell created the groundbreaking Peter Lougheed Leadership College at the University of Alberta, serving as its Founding Principal until 2018.

In 2021, Ms. Campbell joined the board of the Glenn Gould Foundation and the advisory board of The Vancouver Anti-Corruption Institute, a project of The International Centre for Criminal Law Reform and Criminal Justice Policy (ICCLR). In 2022 Kim Campbell became a founding member of the Global Commission on Climate Overshoot, chaired by former Director General of the World Trade Organization and European diplomat, Pascal Lamy. Ms. Campbell continues to do outreach for the Commission’s recommendations and to participate in its ongoing work, which is focusing on health issues and climate change.

Nyla Innuksuk 

Nyla Innuksuk is an Inuk filmmaker, media artist, and virtual reality content creator dedicated to Indigenous storytelling and cutting-edge media. Her short film Kajutaijuq premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and was featured in TIFF’s 2014 Canada’s Top Ten Festival. A graduate of Ryerson University, she has made two films for the NFB’s Stories from Our Land series: Inngiruti: The Thing That Sings! (2012) featuring accordionist Simeonie Keenainak, and Finding Home (2013). 

In 2017, Nyla started NKSK, her own VR production company, and became the first artist to be awarded the imagineNATIVE Indigenous VR/AR Residency, where she worked with A Tribe Called Red on their Indian City 360 VR experience as part of the Canada 150 SESQUI project. Her first feature film, Slash/Back, a science fiction story shot entirely in the Baffin Island Inuit community of Pangnirtung, premiered t SXSW. Innuksuk is an advocate for Indigenous youth and cultural preservation through technology and storytelling.  

Jeremy Irons 

Jeremy Irons is an Academy Award-winning English actor known for his distinctive voice, commanding screen presence, and diverse body of work spanning film, television, and theatre. Born in Cowes, Isle of Wight, he trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School before launching his career on the London stage. He gained widespread recognition for his role as Charles Ryder in Brideshead Revisited (1981), a landmark television adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s novel. 

Irons won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his chilling portrayal of Claus von Bülow in Reversal of Fortune (1990). His film credits include The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1981), The Mission (1986), Dead Ringers (1988), The Lion King (1994) as the voice of Scar, Lolita (1997), Being Julia (2004), and House of Gucci (2021). He also won a Tony Award for The Real Thing (1984) and an Emmy Award for Elizabeth I (2005). 

A passionate advocate for the arts and environmental causes, Irons remains an influential figure in film and theatre. His commanding performances and deep resonant voice continue to captivate audiences worldwide.

Sam Jackson

Sam has worked across broadcasting and the recorded music industry for nearly 20 years, collaborating with many of the world’s greatest classical and jazz musicians. During that time, he has held a range of senior leadership roles and prior to joining the BBC as Controller of BBC Radio 3 and BBC Proms, was Executive Vice-President of Global Classics & Jazz for Universal Music Group.

Music education has been important to Sam throughout his career. He was a member of The Music Commission – a year-long inquiry into supporting and sustaining musical progression for all – and is a Board Member of Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance. In addition, he is a trustee of the charities Help Musicians and the Young Classical Artists Trust, a member of the Royal Philharmonic Society Council, and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music. He has also written and co-written a number of best-selling books on classical music.

Named by The Hospital Club as ‘one of the 100 most influential and innovative people working across arts, culture and the creative industries’, Sam’s first experience of broadcasting was as a 19-year-old runner at the BBC Proms. After studying Music at the University of York, 

Sam then spent 15 years in the commercial radio industry, later running three national radio brands: Classic FM, Smooth and Gold.

Martin Katz  

Martin Katz is the Founder and President of Prospero Pictures and one of Canada’s most prolific film producers. His credits include Hotel Rwanda, which earned three Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations, as well as a long-standing collaboration with director David Cronenberg on films like A Dangerous Method, Spider, Cosmopolis, and Maps to the Stars, for which Julianne Moore won Best Actress at Cannes. Katz’s television work includes The Case Against Cosby for CBC, the biographical series In Their Own Words for CBC and PBS, and Ice Road Truckers, one of the History Channel’s top-rated documentary series. He also co-produced the award-winning music series Spectacle: Elvis Costello With…, featuring performances by Bono, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Emmylou Harris, Renée Fleming, Rufus Wainwright and other legendary artists.

Beyond film and television, Katz holds law degrees from the University of Toronto and the Université de Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne) and is a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada. He has served as a Director of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, past-Chair of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, and was awarded the Queen’s Jubilee Medal. 

Recognized for his contributions to the arts, he was named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 2021 and invested as a Member of the Order of Canada in 2022.

Chris Levine 

Chris Levine is a pioneering Canadian-born British artist known for his innovative work in light, holography, and immersive installation art. His ground-breaking portraits, including the iconic Lightness of Being – a holographic image of Queen Elizabeth II – have redefined the boundaries of contemporary portraiture. 

He has also created portraits of Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Grace Jones, and the Dalai Lama. Levine’s multidisciplinary collaborations include Massive Attack, Hussein Chalayan, and Swarovski, with his work exhibited at institutions such as  the National Portrait Gallery, V&A Museum, and New York’s Museum of  Arts and Design. In 2021, he held a landmark exhibition at Houghton Hall, and his Molecule of Light sculpture was featured at Noor Riyadh in 2023 and 2024.

Pumeza Matshikiza 

South African soprano Pumeza Matshikiza, an exclusive Decca Artist since 2014, South African soprano Pumeza Matshikiza, an exclusive Decca Artist since 2014, has performed at many of the leading opera houses across  Europe and the United States and has released two solo recordings with  Decca: “Voice of Hope,” her debut album combining well-known arias  with traditional and popular African songs, and “Arias.” Throughout her career Pumeza has championed numerous contemporary operatic works. 

In 2019, Ms. Matshikiza performed Dvořák’s Song to the Moon from Rusalka at the Glenn Gould Prize award gala in Toronto honouring legendary African-American diva and civil rights champion Jessye Norman, in what was Ms. Norman’s last public appearance.

This past summer Pumeza performed in a concert in Paris’s Olympia Hall under the auspices of Le Festival de Paris and a world premiere of Jake Heggie’s “Good Morning, Beauty” at the Barbican in London as part of  Classic Pride UK.

Alexander Neef 

Alexander Neef is the General Director of the Paris Opera, one of the world’s most prestigious cultural institutions. He previously served as the General Director of the Canadian Opera Company from 2008-2021, where he played a pivotal role in expanding its artistic vision and international presence. Neef has held leadership positions at major opera houses, including the Salzburg Festival and Opéra national de Paris and the Santa Fe Opera, working closely with renowned artists and conductors. His expertise in opera programming and management has earned him a reputation as a transformative leader in the field of classical music.  

Bernhard Schlink  

Bernhard Schlink is a distinguished German author, academic, and retired constitutional law judge. Best known for his internationally acclaimed novel The Reader, which was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film, Schlink’s writing explores themes of memory, guilt, and justice, particularly in the context of Germany’s post-war history. His other notable works include Flights of Love (2000), Homecoming (2006), and Olga (2018). He has received numerous awards, including the WELT-Literaturpreis (1999) and Germany’s Order of Merit (2003). His works, spanning both fiction and legal philosophy, have been translated into numerous languages, cementing his reputation as one of the world’s most significant contemporary writers.  

“The Glenn Gould Prize is a testament to artistic excellence and profound cultural, social and humanitarian impact, and selecting a Laureate is a responsibility we take with the utmost care,” said Brian Levine, CEO, Glenn Gould Foundation. “This year’s jury is an extraordinary assembly of visionaries, artists, thinkers, and leaders who embody the very spirit of creativity and innovation that Glenn Gould championed. Their collective wisdom ensures that the Prize continues to honour individuals whose work enriches the human experience and inspires future generations.”

The Laureate of the 15th Glenn Gould Prize will be announced on March 20, 2025, during a special free noon concert at Kings Place in London. Tickets are free and available on a first come, first served basis at https://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/free/15th-glenn-gould-prize-announcement/. Tickets required for entry. 

Kings Place is a renowned arts venue located near King’s Cross Station, featuring two world-class concert halls and art galleries. The event will include performances by members of the jury and special guests, celebrating the rich diversity of the arts. 

About The Glenn Gould Foundation

The Glenn Gould Foundation, established in 1983, is a registered Canadian charitable organization dedicated to celebrating excellence in the arts and promoting cultural enrichment globally. As a beacon of excellence across multiple arts disciplines, The Glenn Gould Foundation continues to draw upon the legacy of Glenn Gould to envision a more enlightened world, dedicated to fostering cultural understanding, expressing our shared humanity through the arts and inspiring creativity worldwide.

Through tentpole initiatives such as The Glenn Gould Prize and Instrumental: Music and Mental Health, in addition to myriad programs, presentations, collaborations and co-presentations with arts organizations, artists and scholars worldwide, the Foundation honours the legacy of the iconic Canadian pianist, thinker, broadcaster, and recording artist Glenn Gould’s legacy through cultural diplomacy. 

The Foundation awards its esteemed $100,000 Glenn Gould Prize biennially to an individual in any creative discipline who has enriched the human condition through the arts.  Each Glenn Gould Prize Laureate chooses a young artist of outstanding promise and gifts to receive the $25,000 Glenn Gould Protégé Prize, in recognition of the vital importance of mentorship and as a symbol of the continuous line of creative inspiration that extends from one generation to the next.

Tune into the Gould Standard podcast, follow our social channels @glenngouldfoundation or visit our website www.glenngould.ca for more information.