“Bramwell Tovey is winner of the 2018 Betsy Webster Award,” writes Sarah Shay in Tuesday’s (7/3) MusicalAmerica.com (subscription required). “Established in 2002 to honor the visionary leadership of Orchestras Canada’s founding executive director, the award recognizes ‘an individual or institution [who] has made a sustained and significant contribution … to the Canadian orchestral community.’ The maestro, who is concluding his 18th and final year as the music director of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, was previously music director at the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra for 12 years. Known as a charismatic leader, Tovey conducted concerts ranging from classical to pops to education and was a prime mover behind the 2011 opening of the VSO School of Music. While in Winnipeg, he started the Winnipeg New Music Festival. Throughout his three decades in Canada, Tovey also served for 11 seasons as conductor and host of the New York Philharmonic’s Summertime Classics, held titled positions with the Luxembourg Philharmonic Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Hollywood Bowl, and guest conducted on four continents. He is currently director of orchestral and conducting studies at Boston University and the principal conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra.” Orchestras Canada is the national service organization for Canadian symphonies.
Posted July 5, 2018
