A trio of researchers from the School of Music came home with top honours during this year’s East Coast Music Awards (ECMA) held May 2-6 in Halifax, N.S.
Dr. Andrew Staniland, associate professor, composition, electronic music, won the ECMA for Classical Composition of the Year for The River Within Us.
Dr. Nancy Dahn and Prof. Timothy Steeves – who perform professionally as Duo Concertante and are University Research Professors – won for Classical Recording of the Year for Incarnation.
Dr. Dahn is professor of violin and viola and Prof. Steeves teaches piano.
Plenty of praise
The wins by the researchers build on other recent honours.
Earlier this year, Dr. Staniland was nominated for a Juno Award for Classical Composition of the Year for Phi, Caelestis. He was also nominated for a pair of Juno Awards in 2017.
Last year, Duo Concertante also won an ECMA for their eighth recording, J.S. Bach’s Six Sonatas for Violin and Keyboard.
Dr. Staniland is a member of the Royal Society of Canada, College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists. He founded the Memorial ElectroAcoustic Research Lab (MEARL), where he leads a cross-disciplinary research team that has produced the innovative Mune digital instrument.
He received Memorial’s President’s Award for Outstanding Research in 2014 and the Terra Nova Young Innovator Award in 2016.
In 2016, Dr. Dahn and Prof. Steeves were elected Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada. The society comprises the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences. Scholars are chosen by peers for their exceptional contributions to their respective fields. Both have also been recognized with Memorial’s President’s Award for Outstanding Research.
They have performed nationally and internationally at recital and performance halls. They are the founders and co-artistic directors of the Tuckamore Festival for talented young musicians, a celebration of chamber music held each summer in the St. John’s area, including on the St. John’s campus.
This year was the 30th anniversary of the ECMA festival.
