The jury for this competition is made up of two Canadian composers, one international composer, a distinguished member of the musical community, an internationally recognized performer, and a member of the concert-going public with a passion for musical creation.
Claire Marchand
Claire Marchand studied management of cultural organizations at HEC/Université de Montréal and subsequently worked as music officer at the Canada Council for the Arts (CCA). Since 2015, she is Executive Director and artistic director of the Canadian Music Centre in Quebec based in Montreal. Her role is to establish links between composers, performers and the public in order to increase awareness of Canadian music, specifically that of some 300 composers from Quebec. Ms. Marchand is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Conservatoire de musique et d'art dramatique de Montréal (guidance commitee), and a former member of the Board of Directors of the Observatoire interdisciplinaire de création et de recherche en musique (OICRM) at Université de Montréal.
Dorothy Chang
Described as “evocative and kaleidoscopic” and “beautiful and gripping”, the music of composer Dorothy Chang reflects an eclectic mix of musical influences ranging from popular and folk music to elements of traditional Chinese music. Many of her works are inspired by place, time, memory, and the question of cultural identity.
Dorothy’s catalog includes over eighty compositions with a particular interest in cross-cultural and interdisciplinary collaboration, including works for mixed Chinese and Western ensembles as well those involving staging, movement, theatre and dance. Her interest in cross-cultural and interdisciplinary collaboration has led to some of her favourite projects including: a radio play adaptation of Gertrude Stein’s White Wines for four vocalists and speaking percussionist; a double concerto Gateways for PEP (Piano and Erhu Project), Flying White (飞白) for mixed Chinese and Western ensemble with Wen Wei Dance; and Shelter, a collaboration with harpist Janelle Nadeau and filmmaker Sean Shaul. Her most recent orchestral work, Precipice, was commissioned by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and performed as part of the orchestra’s 2023 US tour to the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall.
Janelle Fung
Canadian pianist Janelle Fung has performed in concert from coast to coast in Canada, including tours with Prairie Debut and Jeunesses Musicales du Canada. Winner of the “Artist of the Year” award from the BC Touring Council in 2014, her international concerts have taken her to over twenty countries on five continents. An avid chamber musician, Ms. Fung has appeared in concert with the Ying Quartet, New York Woodwind Quintet, Mark Fewer and Matt Haimovitz.
Ms. Fung has been a prize winner in numerous national and international competitions, including the Joanna Hodges International Piano Competition, the Concours OSM-Standard Life, and the Canadian Music Competition. She has been featured on radio stations nationally and internationally including CBC, Radio-Canada, Classical 96.3 FM, NPR, and Radio France.
Jean Lesage,
Jury Chair
Jean Lesage pursued his musical training with Gilles Tremblay for composition and analysis, Micheline Coulombe St-Marcoux and Yves Daoust for electronic music, Clermont Pépin for orchestration, and with Mireille Lagacé for harpsichord.
Jean Lesage is very active on the Montréal music scene: he has been an advisory member of the Association pour la Création et la Recherche Électroacoustique du Québec, a program coordinator for the Société des Concerts Alternatifs du Québec, and between 1990 and 2011, a member of the artistic committee of the Société de Musique Contemporaine du Québec.
Katherine Balch
Called “spellbinding” (Seen and Heard International) with “glow and poise and electric tension” (The Daily Telegraph), the music of composer Katherine Balch captures the magic of everyday sounds, inviting audiences into a sonic world characterized by imagination, discovery, and textural lyricism. Inspired by the intimacy of quotidian objects, found sounds, and natural processes, she has been described as “some kind of musical Thomas Edison – you can just hear her tinkering around in her workshop, putting together new sounds and textural ideas” (San Francisco Chronicle).
Katherine’s work has been commissioned and performed by leading ensembles including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, the London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Modern, and the symphony orchestras of Pittsburg, Dallas, Minnesota, Oregon, Albany, Indianapolis, and Tokyo. She has been featured on IRCAM’s ManiFeste, Fontainebleau Music Festival, and Festival MANCA in France, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in the UK, Suntory Summer Arts and Takefu Music Festival in Japan, and the Aspen, Norfolk, Santa Fe, and Tanglewood music festivals in the United States. Her work has been presented in major global venues including Carnegie Hall, Disney Hall, and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall.
Scott Tresham
Scott Tresham is driven by a deep passion for the creative arts, their unique capacity for human expression and storytelling, and a firm belief in their power to connect and transform individuals and communities. Leveraging over three decades of experience in classical music (as a composer, musician, broadcaster, artistic director, creative producer, curator/programmer and arts administrator), he is a thoughtful leader and generous collaborator who inspires with intelligence and heart to create meaningful and unforgettable experiences. Where others see impossibility, Scott’s signature is an exceptional talent for uncovering potential, and transforming the improbable into the inevitable.
Vivian Fung
JUNO Award-winning composer Vivian Fung has a unique talent for combining idiosyncratic textures and styles into large-scale works, reflecting her multicultural background. NPR calls her “one of today’s most eclectic composers” and The Philadelphia Inquirer praises her “stunningly original compositional voice.” Her newest compositions run the gamut from the orchestral piece Parade, a ROCO commission reflecting on San Francisco’s Lunar New Year festivities; to the daring Ominous Machine II, a powerhouse work for two pianos and two percussion; to her Flute Concerto: Storm Within, a challenging work commissioned and premiered by Vancouver Symphony Principal Flutist Christie Reside.
Current and upcoming presentations of Fung’s work include the National Repertory Orchestra’s performance of Prayer, her critically acclaimed elegy for the pandemic. Fung’s composition Aqua, inspired by Chicago’s Aqua Tower, is on the program for the city’s annual Grant Park Music Festival.
