The Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music is a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 contemporary classical music

Contemporary classical music

Contemporary classical music can be understood as belonging to the period that started in the mid-1970s with the retreat of modernism. However, the term may also be employed in a broader sense to refer to all post-1945 modern musical forms.-Categorization:...

 award given to composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

s in recognition of quality new works of chamber music

Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

. Granted annually since 1978 (with the exception of 1984 and 1990 when no prize was given), the prize is won through a competition administered by the Canadian Music Centre

Canadian Music Centre

The Canadian Music Centre holds Canada's largest collection of Canadian concert music. The CMC exists to promote the works of its Associate Composers in Canada and around the world....

. Prior to 1991, the competition had been administered by the Canadian Music Council.

History

The Jules Léger Prize was founded by Canadian diplomat and statesman Jules Léger

Jules Léger

Jules Léger was a Canadian diplomat and statesman who served as Governor General of Canada, the 21st since Canadian Confederation....

 in 1978 with the purpose "to encourage Canadian composers to write for chamber music ensembles and to foster the performance of Canadian music by these groups." Works which are eligible for competition must be written for no more than twelve performers and no less than two. Any Canadian citizen and anyone who has lived on Canadian soil for over a year is eligible to compete in the competition. Composers who are awarded the prize receive a trophy designed by the Canadian sculptor Louis Archambault

Louis Archambault

Louis Archambault, was a Quebec sculptor.Born in Montreal, Quebec, he won the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada's Allied Arts Medal in 1958.In 1968, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada....

, a cash award (currently $7,500), and a concert performance of the winning work by leading Canadian musicians (most of these concerts have also been broadcast on CBC Radio

CBC Radio

CBC Radio generally refers to the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which are outlined below.-English:CBC Radio operates three English language...

).

Winners

Year	Composer	Work
1978	R. Murray Schafer R. Murray Schafer Raymond Murray Schafer is a Canadian composer, writer, music educator and environmentalist perhaps best known for his World Soundscape Project, concern for acoustic ecology, and his book The Tuning of the World...	String Quartet No. 2 'Waves
1979	Bruce Mather Bruce Mather Bruce Mather is a Canadian composer, pianist, and writer who is particularly known for his contributions to contemporary classical music. One of the most notable composers of microtonal music, he was awarded the Jules Léger Prize twice, first in 1979 for his Musique pour Champigny and again in...	Musique pour Champigny
1980	Serge Garant Serge Garant Serge Garant, OC was a Canadian composer, conductor, professor of music at the University of Montreal and radio host of Musique de notre siècle on Radio-Canada. In 1966 he cofounded with Jean Papineau-Couture, Maryvonne Kendergi, Wilfrid Pelletier and Hugh Davidson the Société de musique...	Quintette
1981	John Rea John Rea (composer) John Rea is a Montreal-based composer who notably won the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music in both 1981 and 1992. He obtained his Bachelors degree at Wayne State University , his Master of Music degree at the University of Toronto , and his PhD at Princeton University. His children's opera...	Com-possession
1982	Walter Boudreau Walter Boudreau Walter Boudreau is a Québécois composer, saxophonist and conductor. In 1969, he founded the group L'Infonie with Raoul Duguay, which dissolved in 1973. Since 1988, he has been the artistic director of the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec in Montreal...	L'Odyssée du Soleil
1983	John Hawkins John Hawkins (Canadian composer) John Hawkins was a Canadian composer, conductor, music educator, and pianist. He notably won the 2nd-century Week Composition Competition in 1967 for his Eight Movements for Flute and Clarinet and received the Jules Léger Prize in 1983 for Breaking Through which was commissioned by ARRAYMUSIC...	Breaking Through
1985	Brian Cherney Brian Cherney Brian Cherney is a Canadian composer currently residing in Montreal, Quebec. He studied at the University of Toronto where he was a pupil of John Weinzweig, Samuel Dolin, and John Beckwith. In 1972 he joined Schulich School of Music of McGill University, where he has taught analysis and...	River of Fire
1986	Michel Longtin Michel Longtin Michel Longtin is a Canadian composer and music educator. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian League of Composers, he won the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music in 1986 for Pohjatuuli....	Pohjatuuli
1987	Denys Bouliane Denys Bouliane Denys Bouliane is a Canadian composer and conductor.-Biography:He is a graduate of Laval University . He studied music composition in the Neue Musik Theater class of Mauricio Kagel in Cologne followed by studies with György Ligeti until 1985...	À propos... et le baron perché
1988	Michael Colgrass Michael Colgrass Michael Colgrass is an American-born Canadian musician, composer, and educator.His musical career began in Chicago as a jazz musician . He graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in percussion performance and composition, including studies with Darius Milhaud at the Aspen Festival...	Strangers: Irreconcilable Variations
1989	Peter Paul Koprowski Peter Paul Koprowski Peter Paul Koprowski is a Canadian composer, conductor, music educator, and pianist of Polish descent. He became a Canadian citizen in 1976. As a composer he is chiefly known for his large output of symphonic works which began with his still frequently performed In Memoriam Karol Szymanowski...	Sonnet for Laura
1991	Donald Steven Donald Steven Donald Steven is a Canadian-American composer, music educator, and academic administrator. A member of the Canadian League of Composers and an associate of the Canadian Music Centre, he won a BMI Student Composer Award in 1970, the Canadian Federation of University Women's Golden Jubilee Creative...	In the Land of Pure Delight
1992	John Rea John Rea (composer) John Rea is a Montreal-based composer who notably won the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music in both 1981 and 1992. He obtained his Bachelors degree at Wayne State University , his Master of Music degree at the University of Toronto , and his PhD at Princeton University. His children's opera...	Objets perdus
1993	Bruce Mather Bruce Mather Bruce Mather is a Canadian composer, pianist, and writer who is particularly known for his contributions to contemporary classical music. One of the most notable composers of microtonal music, he was awarded the Jules Léger Prize twice, first in 1979 for his Musique pour Champigny and again in...	YQUEM
1994	Peter Paul Koprowski Peter Paul Koprowski Peter Paul Koprowski is a Canadian composer, conductor, music educator, and pianist of Polish descent. He became a Canadian citizen in 1976. As a composer he is chiefly known for his large output of symphonic works which began with his still frequently performed In Memoriam Karol Szymanowski...	Woodwind Quintet
1995	John Burke John Burke (composer) John Joseph Burke is a Canadian composer and music educator. As a composer he has written mainly works for chamber ensembles, and his music displays an acute sensitivity to instrumental balance and timbre...	String Quartet
1996	Christos Hatzis Christos Hatzis Christos Hatzis is a Greek Canadian composer currently a professor at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto.-Biography:Hatzis was born in Volos, Greece and received his early music instruction at the Volos branch of the Hellenic Conservatory...	Erotikos Logos
1997	Omar Daniel Omar Daniel Omar Daniel is a Canadian composer and pianist of Estonian descent. In 1997 he won the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music for his Zwei Lieder nach Rilke, a work for soprano and chamber ensemble, and in 2007 he received the K.M. Hunter Artists Award for classical music...	Zwei Lieder nach Rilke
1998	Michael Oesterle Michael Oesterle Michael Oesterle is a Canadian composer currently living in Deux-Montagnes, Quebec, Canada. His pieces are written in the contemporary classical genre....	Reprise
1999	Alexina Louie Alexina Louie Alexina Louie, OC, FRSC is a Canadian composer of Chinese descent who has written many pieces for orchestra, as well as pieces for solo piano.-Biography:Alexina Louie was born in Vancouver and received an...	Nightfall
2000	André Ristic André Ristic André Ristic is a Canadian composer, pianist, accordion player, and music theorist. He has won several awards, including the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music in 2000 for his work Catalogue de bombes occidentales, the Prix opus for Composer of the Year in 2002, and the Prix Québec-Flandre in...	Catalogue 1 [bombes occidentales]
2001	Chris Harman	Amerika
2002	Yannick Plamondon	Autoportrait sur Times Square
2003	Éric Morin Éric Morin Éric Morin is a Canadian composer. He has been awarded several prizes for his compositions, including the 2003 Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music for his D'un Château l'autre and the CBC Radio National Competition for Young Composers which he won twice...	D'un Château l'autre
2004	Patrick Saint-Denis Patrick Saint-Denis Patrick Saint-Denis is a Canadian composer currently based in The Hague. His works have been performed at music festivals in North America, Europe and Asia. His composition Les dits de Victoire was awarded first prize in the SOCAN young composers competition in 2003 and the Jules Léger Prize for...	Les dits de Victoire
2005	Linda Catlin Smith Linda Catlin Smith Linda Catlin Smith is an American composer based out of Toronto, Canada. In 2005 she became the second woman to win the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music....	Garland
2006	James Rolfe James Rolfe James Simon Rolfe is one of Canada's leading composers of contemporary music. He studied composition with John Beckwith at the University of Toronto and Jo Kondo in Japan...	raW
2007	Chris Harman	Postludio a rovescio
2008	Analia Llugdar Analia Llugdar Analia Llugdar is an Argentine composer who is currently based in Montreal, Canada. She has won several notable competitions, including first prize in the chamber music category of the CBC Radio National Competition for Young Composers, the Jeunesses Musicales du Canada Award, the Grand Prix of...	Que sommes-nous
2009	Jimmie LeBlanc Jimmie LeBlanc Jimmie LeBlanc is a Canadian composer and guitarist. His music has been performed throughout his native country by such ensembles as the Ensemble Contrechamps, Hwaum Chamber Ensemble, Kore Ensemble, Les Enfants Terribles, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Pentaèdre, Quatuor Bozzini, and the Trio Fibonacci...	L’Espace intérieur du monde
2010	Justin Christensen	The Failures of Marsyas
2011	Cassandra Miller	Bel Canto

External links

• Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music at canadacouncil.ca