The 44th edition of the Juno Awards on March 15 honoured some of Canada’s most popular and up-and-coming musicians but, like other years, was light on showcasing classical music.
Some argue that the awards should be more comprehensive and inclusive and show the country a more rounded version of our homegrown talent. One way would be to include performances by classical musicians in the annual TV special.
Another way would be to incorporate more than the current four categories for classical music, says Julian Armour, artistic and executive director of the Music and Beyond classical music festival in Ottawa.
“The Grammys have 16 classical music categories, the Junos only have 4, and I can’t imagine why anybody thinks that they shouldn’t have more—they should have as many as the Grammys as far as I’m concerned. It would be a way of showing the general public that classical music is important,” he says.
“That’s not to say that classical music is greater music than all the other kinds of music. I mean, my personal view is I’ve got great respect and great friends playing all kinds of music, but classical music is as important.”
Armour, who is also principal cellist with the Chamber Players of Canada, notes that Canada has produced many world-class artists in the classical music field and the Junos “should be doing much more” to acknowledge them.
“I think we need to be really celebrating the really, really great Canadian artists that we’ve produced.”
