Anna Höstman wins Toronto Emerging Composer Award

Anna Höstman, who is very much a conceptual sort of composer, has won the third Toronto Emerging Composer Award since the prize was revived in 2010. Honourable mention has gone to Christopher Thornborrow, one of the co-founders of the Toy Piano Composers collective, the Canadian Music Centre announced today.

Thanks to the financial initiative of Michael Koerner and Roger Moore, the award comes with a $5,000 cheque. Thornborrow gets $1,000 as part of the honour.

The three-person jury was made up of Continuum Contmporary Music co-artistic director Jennifer Waring, composer Juliet Palmer and pianist Gregory Oh. The press release said their decision to present the awards to Höstman and Thornborrow was unanimous.

According to the Canadian Music Centre, the purpose of the award is to, “recognize the excellent work of emerging music creators from the Greater Toronto Area who also exhibit innovation, experimentation and a willingness to take risks in their work.”

The awards will be officially presented at the Esprit Orchestra’s season-closing concert at Koerner Hall on March 28. Details here.

John Terauds