Category: Betty Webster Award

Calgary, Canada (24/9/2024) – Heather Wootton, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra’s Assistant Principal Horn is the winner of the Orchestras Canada Betty Webster Award for 2024. 

🎥 Watch the Award Announcement Video on YouTube!

Heather Wootton was nominated by the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. The award celebrates Heather’s contribution to Canadian orchestras through her career-long commitment and outstanding impact on music education and expanding opportunities for young musicians. There will be an official award presentation to Heather the evening of September 27 at a Calgary Philharmonic concert.  

The Betty Webster Award was established in 2002 to honour Mrs. Elizabath Webster, C.M. (1925-2018), Orchestras Canada’s founding Executive Director. Past winners include distinguished musicians, volunteers, educators, ensembles, and arts managers: a tribute to Mrs. Webster’s inclusive vision for Canadian orchestras. In 2024, the jury focused on the calibre and impact of the nominees’ contributions to music education of one or more Canadian orchestras.  

Heather has been a member of the horn section of the Calgary Philharmonic since 1993. In 2015, she was instrumental in launching PhilKids, a free after-school visionary music education program to fuel and support the empowerment of children from underserved neighbourhoods through the exploration of music. PhilKids offers elementary students, ages six to 11, the opportunity to learn directly from Orchestra musicians. Since its launch, the program has seen hundreds of successful students and graduates.  

Since 2001, Heather has been regularly invited to the “Summer Music on the Shannon” music festival in Limerick, Ireland, as a guest soloist and horn instructor. On top of her Calgary Philharmonic engagement, Heather is a founding member of the chamber ensembles, Rosa Selvatica, and Altius Brass and she is increasingly busy as a teacher and clinician. In 2010, Heather and her colleagues Laurie Matiation, Jennifer Frank-Umana and Douglas Umana, launched HornFest, a yearly weekend workshop for Horn players from Junior High students to adult amateurs to support their growth and development and joy in playing. It has been running successfully and supporting horn players ever since. 

In response to receiving the award, Heather Wootton said:  

“Thank you so much for this incredible honour. Working with the many students and educators involved with PhilKids has been a privilege since its inception in 2015 and launched in 2016. This award belongs to the PhilKids team, who constantly inspire and amaze me with their passion and commitment. This award is a testament to them. To address the current lack of diversity in classical music, we must start at the roots, at the very beginning and provide opportunities for children from diverse backgrounds and circumstances to succeed and ensure accessible opportunities and pathways to advance in music and the arts. Regardless of where their path in life takes them, the skills they develop while studying music and the mastery of an instrument will last their entire lives.”
 

The award includes a plaque and a donation to an orchestra or a group of the winner’s choosing. Ms. Wootton has asked that this year’s donation be directed to the Calgary Philharmonic’s PhilKids program. 

The national jury was chaired by OC board member, Prince Edward Island Symphony Music Director and Symphony 21 Artistic Director, Jaelem Bhate, and included Christie Gray (CEO, National Youth Orchestra of Canada); Dina Gilbert (Music Director, Kamloops Symphony & Walla Walla Symphony, Orchestras Canada Board Member); Jack Chen (General Manager, Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra); and last year’s Betty Webster Award winner, Janna Sailor (Artistic Director, Allegra Chamber Orchestra and Executive Director, CMC Prairie Region.)  

Speaking about the Award, jury chair Jaelem Bhate noted, “Heather Wootton’s career stands as a testament to the transformative power of music education and community involvement. Her work with PhilKids and HornFest has created invaluable opportunities for young musicians and nurtured a love for music in underserved communities. Heather’s dedication and passion shine through in every aspect of her work with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and beyond. The Betty Webster Award is a fitting tribute to her outstanding contributions and her enduring impact on the orchestral world.” 

OC’s Executive Director, Katherine Carleton commented, “Every single nomination for Orchestras Canada’s annual Betty Webster Award is inspiring: but every year, one stands out. Heather Wootton is not only a wonderful colleague and a skilled performer, but she has also consistently, quietly, and generously shared her love of music with musicians young and old, demonstrating over and over again that doing something as well as possible – and sharing what we know with others – make us all better people. Thank you, Heather.”

🎥 Watch the Award Announcement Video on YouTube!

Montréal, Canada (September 22nd, 2022) – Orchestras Canada (OC) presented the 2022 Betty Webster Award to Katia Makdissi-Warren, composer and Artistic Director of Oktoecho, at its Annual General Meeting, to celebrate her longstanding contributions to diversity, equity and inclusion in the Canadian music community. Watch the award winner announcement video here.

The Betty Webster Award was established in 2002 to honour Orchestras Canada’s founding Executive Director. Past winners include distinguished musicians, volunteers, educators, ensembles, and arts managers: a tribute to Mrs. Webster’s inclusive vision for Canadian orchestras. In 2022, the jury focused on the caliber and impact of the nominees’ contributions to inclusion of one or more Canadian orchestras.
Innovative Composer 
Katia Makdissi-Warren is an innovative composer who has gained attention on the national and international scene with a unique style that combines Middle-Eastern, Western and Indigenous music. In 2001, she founded Oktoécho, an ensemble specializing in this unique fusion, and regularly composes for the group as well as serving as artistic director.

Her fusion aesthetic leads her to work regularly with the Indigenous, Arab and Jewish communities. Along with her ensemble, she has won several prizes, including the 2019 OPUS prize for best album of the year and the Conseil des Arts de Montréal prize for Diversity and Inclusion in 2020.

In 2019-2020, during her year-long tribute to the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, Katia composed several works for chamber orchestra, including gamelan, Sufi chant, Indigenous chant and others.

Katia Makdissi-Warren studied composition in Quebec City and Hamburg, and then Arab and Syriac music in Beirut with Ennio Morricone, Franco Donatoni, Manfred Stahnke, P. Louis Hage and Michel Longtin. Her works have been performed by such groups as the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the National Oriental Orchestra of Beirut, I Musici de Montréal, Les Violons du Roy, l’Ensemble contemporain de Montréal (ECM+), the Kamloops Symphony Orchestra and the Okanagan Symphony Orchestra.

“I am deeply honored by this award, which I dedicate to those around me, the wonderful artists and administrative teams I work with, and the listening public. Through music, you allow me every day to connect a little more with the greatness of humanity. Thanks to you, I can find myself in the depths of my own culture and thus find myself connected to all cultures. Thank you also to the entire Betty Webster Award team,” says the winner.

The award includes a plaque and a donation to an orchestra or a group of the recipient’s choice. Ms. Makdissi-Warren requested that this year’s donation be made to the Inuit girls drumming group, which currently consists of six girls aged 10-14. The Inuit girls drumming group has performed in their community for Elders, in support of residential school survivors, at teachings, at vigils and in long-term care homes. They include audiences in their performances, sharing drums and basic teaching with them.

Jury’s choice 
The national jury was chaired by OC board member and Music Nova Scotia’s Executive Director, Allegra Swanson, and included Allison Migeon (Co-founder and Executive Director, Ensemble Obiora), D’Arcy Gray (Community Engagement Manager, Symphony Nova Scotia), Jaelem Bhate (Artistic Director, Symphony 21; Orchestras Canada Board member); plus last year’s laureate Linda Penner (President, Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra).
OC’s Executive Director, Katherine Carleton C.M., commented, “Katia Makdissi-Warren’s leadership and creativity provide such an inspiring perspective on what an instrumental ensemble can embody. As an observer of the jury’s process, I can attest to the high caliber of nominations for the Betty Webster Award this year. It has been especially exciting to witness our sector’s embrace of inclusion as a guiding principle, and the creativity, respect and collaborative spirit that artists and administrators have brought to this urgent and necessary work.”

* Credit for Katia’s headshot: Jérôme Bertrand and Geneviève Bigué-SMCQ

Yannick Nézet-Séguin is the winner of the Orchestras Canada BettyWebster Award for 2020.

Maestro Nézet-Séguin was nominated by the Orchestre Métropolitain. While the award is traditionally presented in person, this year required rethinking the tradition, and the award announcement was made through this video, which celebrates Yannick’s involvement and music making with several Canadian orchestras from coast-to-coast.

The Betty Webster Award is presented each year to an individual or organization that has made a sustained and significant contribution over a number of years to the Canadian orchestral community, with an emphasis on leadership, education and volunteerism. It was established in 2002 to honour Orchestras Canada’s founding Executive Director. Past winners include distinguished musicians, volunteers, educators, ensembles, and arts managers: a tribute to Mrs. Webster’s inclusive vision for Canadian orchestras.

Maestro Nézet-Séguin is an internationally renowned, proudly Canadian, proudly Québécois conductor.  In September 2018, he became the third Music Director of the Metropolitan Opera, New York. Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra since 2012 and Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain since 2000, he is also Honorary Conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra (after serving as Music Director, 2008 to 2018), and Honorary Member of the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.  In September 2019, he signed a life-time contract with the Orchestre Métropolitain.  A Deutsche Grammophon artist, Maestro Nézet-Séguin has a significant and diverse discography.

In response to receiving the award, Yannick Nézet-Séguin said: “Dear musicians across Canada, I am deeply honoured to receive the Betty Webster Award from Orchestras Canada. The Canadian orchestral scene abounds in talent and, while we are going through a rough patch these days, I am one of those who remain hopeful and believe we must stand together in the coming months. To the entire musical world, to musicians across the country, bravo and thank you for your many initiatives. It warms my heart to receive this honour.”

The award includes a plaque and a donation to an orchestra of the winner’s choosing. M. Nézet-Séguin has asked that this year’s donation be directed to the Orchestre symphonique de l’École Joseph-François Perrault.

The national jury was chaired by OC board member and Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra Director of Artistic Operations, Jennifer MacDonald, and included last year’s laureate, Claire Guimond (flutist and founder/long-time artistic director of Arion Orchestre Baroque, Montreal QC); Chris Lee (tuba, National Arts Centre Orchestra); Eric Mathis (Director of Artistic Administration and trombonist, Symphony Nova Scotia, Halifax NS); Leanne Miners (arts manager, North Bay ON); and Jeffrey Ryan (composer, Vancouver BC).

Speaking about the Award, jury chair Jennifer MacDonald noted, “our jury was, as always, inspired by the nominations: people and groups whose contributions are felt regionally, nationally and internationally. It was a genuine privilege to be reminded of the many ways that Canadians are making an impact on the orchestral world.  Ultimately, though, one particular nomination rose to the top, and we are honoured to name Yannick Nézet-Séguin as this year’s winner. He is a remarkable musician, visionary and humanitarian, and he continues to promote Canadian music and musicians on the world stage.”