News Releases - 2012
Canadian Countertenor awarded Canada Council Virginia Parker Prize
Ottawa, June 7, 2012 – The 2012 Virginia Parker Prize has been awarded to rising classical singer Daniel Cabena. The Canada Council for the Arts today announced that the countertenor is the recipient of the $25,000 prize, established in 1982 by music lover Virginia Parker and funded by an annual donation from the Virginia Parker Foundation. The award is for Canadian classical musicians under the age of 32 who demonstrate outstanding talent and musicianship.
“Daniel Cabena is part of a new generation of artists helping to put Canada on the world stage,” said Robert Sirman, Canada Council Director and CEO. “The Canada Council’s Virginia Parker Prize recognizes Daniel’s achievements as a singer of great expressive power and will help to assure the brilliant career that lies ahead.”
Daniel Cabena was selected by a Canada Council peer assessment committee composed of Valdine Anderson, Jacques Boucher and Daniel Gress.
The peer assessment committee members made the following comments: “The voice of Daniel Cabena is pure and he devotes considerable energy to detail. His singing is relaxed and natural. He has impeccable style and the intelligence of his musical thought is apparent, as is his musical curiosity. The artist’s desire to enrich the repertoire for countertenors is commendable.”
Daniel Cabena will use the funds from the Virginia Parker Prize towards two goals: the continuation of his interpretive work into a wider repertoire and the continued exploration of his professional possibilities in Canada and Europe.
Download images of Daniel Cabena.
Daniel Cabena, a native of Waterloo, Ontario, grew up in a deeply musical family. His mother is a soprano and his father a composer, organist and professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, where Cabena earned his first music degree (Honours bachelor in music). He also holds a doctorate in music from l’Université de Montréal.
He has participated in numerous workshops and academies, including the Centre for Opera Studies in Italy, l’Académie Internationale de Musique de Comminges, l’Académie Baroque Européenne d’Ambronay, and the Briten‑Pears Young Artist Programme, for which he was assisted by the Canadian Aldeburgh Foundation. Cabena has also taken part in broadcasts for CBC/Radio-Canada, National Public Radio in the United States, Schweizer Radio in Switzerland, and for France Musique in France. He has collaborated with Canadian ensembles such asFor his achievements, he was awarded the 2010 Bernard Diamant Prize by the Canada Council for the Arts.
Cabena is currently studying at the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland, under the tutelage of German tenor Gerd Türk, with the help of the Canada Council for the Arts Grants to Professional Musicians program. His engagements this season include appearances with Le Parlement de Musique, Le Concert de l’Hostel Dieu of Lyon, Berlin Baroque, Le Concert Spirituel, l’Ensemble Gilles Binchois, Musica Fiorita and La Cetra of Basel, and the Ensemble Weser‑Renaissance of Bremen.
General information
In addition to its principal role of promoting and fostering the arts, the Canada Council for the Arts administers and awards many prizes and fellowships in the arts, humanities, social sciences, natural and health sciences, engineering, and arts management. These prizes and fellowships recognize the achievements of outstanding Canadian artists, scholars, and administrators. The Canada Council is committed to raising public awareness and celebrating these exceptional people and organizations on both a national and an international level.