The Orchestras Canada Betty Webster Award for 2016 has been awarded to John Gomez, founder and music director of the Ottawa Youth Orchestra Academy (OYOA).
Affectionately called “The Betty” — after Orchestras Canada’s founding Executive Director, Betty Webster — the award was established in 2002 and offered once a year to an individual or organisation in honour of their contribution to the Canadian orchestral community.
Gomez was unanimously selected by the jury which included Matthew Jones (Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Orchestra), Edmonton arts leader Annemarie Petrov (Edmonton Symphony/Frances Winspear Centre for Music), Ontario-based solo bassoonist and teacher Nadina Mackie Jackson, Montreal musician and volunteer Louise Richard (Association des orchestres de jeunes du Québec), and Moncton’s Ken Macleod (New Brunswick Youth Orchestra and Sistema NB).
“The jury responded to the excellence of John’s work, his unstinting and sustained commitment to youth involvement in music, his leadership, and the impact that he’s clearly had on more than a generation of Canadian professional orchestral musicians. It is an honour to be able to recognise this work,” wrote conductor and jury chair Matthew Jones.
Gomez will receive the award during a ceremony to be scheduled in the upcoming 2016-17 season. The award includes a cash prize and a plaque.
Gomez has asked that this year’s award be directed as a donation to the OYOA. The funds will be used to help cover the cost of lessons for students studying bassoon, double bass, French horn, and harp.
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