Michelle Mourre Receives 2009 Heinz Unger Award for Music Conducting

Congratulations to Michelle and to former NAO conductors Martin MacDonald (’06-’08) and Evan Mitchell (’05) who were also nominated for this award.

Toronto, February 23, 2010  – The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) today announced Michelle Mourre, Artistic Director of the Brandon Chamber Players as this year’s recipient of the Heinz Unger Award.  The award is presented every two years to an emerging professional conductor who has experience at a professional, semi-professional and/or community orchestra.
The $8,000 award recognizes talent and promise; musicianship and conducting skills as well as a commitment to Canadian repertoire and working with Canadian musicians. The 2009 Heinz Unger Award Committee was unanimous in its selection, noting that Mourre has a “lot to offer and say as a Canadian musician and conductor.” 
Mourre’s career has grown significantly in recent years. She is known for the elegance, clarity and depth she brings to her musical interpretation.  Prior to joining the Brandon Chamber Players, Mourre distinguished herself as Conductor in Residence with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and more recently, with her successful debuts at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Symphony Nova Scotia. 
The panel for this year’s Heinz Unger Award included: Glenn Buhr, composer, pianist and professor; Chan Ka Nin, composer and professor; Marc David, principal conductor of the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra and artistic director and principal conductor of L'Orchestre symphonique de Longueuil and Gwen Hoebig, concertmaster and violinist with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. 

The Dr. Heinz Unger Scholarship Fund was established by the York Concert Society in 1967 to honour the late Dr. Heinz Unger. Born in Berlin in 1895, Unger was a renowned conductor and toured Europe extensively before making his debut with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1937. Ten years later, he settled permanently in Toronto, and subsequently took an active role in Canada’s music community where he helped found the York Concert Society. The Society organized an annual series of four spring concerts, attracting notable guest artists and providing a high standard of performance.  The series ran until Unger’s death in 1965.  With contributions from the OAC, the Society established the Dr. Heinz Unger Scholarship Fund in his honour in 1967, and OAC continues to administer the award to this day.

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