Vancouver Violinist Receives 2013 GG Performing Arts Award

Vancouver violinist and teacher Andrew Dawes is being honoured for his accomplishments to the field of classical music in Canada with a Governor General's Award.

Dawes is one of six recipients of awards recognizing artists for an outstanding body of work and enduring contribution to the performing arts, announced this morning (April 10). 

Born in High River, AB, Dawes is best known for his role as first violinist of Canada’s internationally acclaimed Orford String Quartet. In 2000, the CBC named the Orford String Quartet one of the “Ten Great Canadian Performers of the Twentieth Century.”

He has taught at the University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia, and McGill University, and serves on the board of the St. James Music Academy, which provides free instruments and music lessons to children from Vancouver's poorest neighbourhoods.

Dawes has been the recipient of numerous awards and honours: Member of the Order of Canada (1991); Molson Prize (Canada Council for the Arts, 1976); Chalmers National Music Award (1994); Dorothy Somerset Award for Excellence in Performance and Development (University of British Columbia, 2002); Queen Elizabeth Jubilee Medal (2002) and Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012); and three JUNO Awards.

Other Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award winners announced today are Daniel Lanois (popular music), Jean Pierre Lefebvre (film), Viola Léger (theatre), Eric Peterson (theatre), Menaka Thakkar (dance). 

Founded in 1992, the Awards are Canada's most prestigious honour in the performing arts — the ultimate recognition of Canada's best artists whose accomplishments have inspired and enriched the cultural life of our country. 

Two complementary Awards are also presented; filmmaker Sarah Polley was named receipient of the National Arts Centre Award and Jean Pierre Desrosiers is being honoured with the Ramon John Hnatyshyn (RJH) Award for Volunteerism in the Performing Arts.

Governor General David Johnston will present the Awards to recipients in a ceremony at Rideau Hall on May 31. A gala awards evening will be held at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on June 1.

For further information and biographies of Award recipients, visit the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards website. 

(Photo via http://andrewdawes.ca/)