Sir Ernest MacMillan Memorial Foundation

Sir Ernest MacMillan Memorial Foundation

Sir Ernest MacMillan Memorial Foundation. Established in 1984 in Toronto on the initiative of, and with an initial gift from, the family of Sir Ernest MacMillan in order to commemorate Sir Ernest's unique career and his untiring support of talented young Canadian musicians. The foundation has provided annual awards of up to $10,000 for advanced education at the graduate level, in areas not funded by other granting agencies. These are given in a different field of music each year, one that reflects the broad range of Sir Ernest's interests and accomplishments.

Recipients have been Gayle Young, musical scholarship (1985-6); Robert May, composition (1986-7); Bernard Labadie, conducting (1987-8); Marc-André Doran, organ performance (1988-9); David Gerry, music education (1989-90); Virginia Caputo, traditional music, ethnomusicology (1990-1); Jens Lindemann, trumpet, and James Sommerville, french horn, orchestral wind performance (1991-2); the Hammerhead Consort, chamber music (1992-3); Meredith Hall, early music (1993-4); Karen Pegley and Andrew Zinck, Canadian music, musicology (1994-5); Janet Brenneman, music education (1995-6); Chester Jankowski, composition (1996-7); Rosemary Thompson, conducting, community and youth orchestras (1997-8); Vincent Parizeau, double reeds, bassoon (1998-9; Cynthia Yeh, percussion instruments (1999-2000); Jonathan Oldengarm, organ (2000-1); Paul Jeffrey, brass instruments (2001-2); and the Tokai String Quartet and the Lloyd-Carr Harris String Quartet (2003-4).

The recipients are selected by an independent jury of subject specialists. These have included Robert Aitken, Allan Bell, Juliette Bourassa-Trépanier, Lawrence Cherney, Victor Feldbrill, Cynthia Millman Floyd, Edith Fowke, Helmut Kallmann, Talivaldis Kenins, Mireille Lagacé, Stephane Lamelin, Geoffrey Payzant, André Prévost, Walter Prystawski, George Proctor, Regula Qureshi, John Rea, Simon Streatfeild, Alain Trudel, Andrew Tunis, and William Wright.

In 1993 the foundation played an important role in celebrating the centenary of Sir Ernest Macmillan's birth. It sponsored commemorative activities throughout the country and joined forces with the National Library of Canada to present an exhibit at Toronto's Roy Thomson Hall.