Juno for Canadian Composer John Burge

His new name is JUNO JOHN and he is having a banner year! Last weekend, Canadian composer John Burge was awarded his first Juno for best classical composition for his piece entitled Flanders Fields Reflections. The director of the Queens University School of Music, Campus News writes:

Flanders Fields Reflections was commissioned by Sinfonia Toronto in 2005 for their 2005/06 season. "I was asked to fill about 30 minutes of a concert with a composition that would capture some aspect of their season's theme, War and Peace. It dawned on me that a perfect vehicle would be to musically interpret some of the important lines from John McCrae's famous poem, In Flanders Fields. The resultant musical work is in five movements and when people hear it, they seem drawn to the slowly unfolding sadness of the fourth movement which is titled, 'Loved and Were Loved.'"

Not to be one to stay still (at least from my observations), he is gearing up for the premier of his Symphony #2 with the Kingston Symphony and soprano Joni Henson on April 26. Even sooner than that (tonight in fact) Doreen Rao and the University of Toronto MacMillan Singers and Master Chorale and Queen's University Choral Ensemble will be performing his Mass for Prisoners of Conscious at Grant Hall. They have already performed it together in Toronto last week and this weekend head to Avery Fisher Hall in New York City for a performance on Sunday, April 5.

For a listing of his compositions, including those for voice, please visit the Canadian Music Centre.

Congratulations John!