INAUGURAL HARRY FREEDMAN RECORDING AWARD

Composer Constantine Caravassilis (M.Mus. '08) and pianist Christina Petrowska Quilico won the inaugural Harry Freedman Recording Award.  This award was established to contribute towards the creative costs associated with making audio recordings of Canadian composers' music, and is sponsored by the Canadian Music Centre and the Freedman family.

Caravassilis planned to use these funds to support the recording of two complete cycles of his works for solo piano - The Book of Fantasias and the Book of Rhapsodies, in preparation for a commercial CD release.  Constantine's music has been described as commanding "beyond the ordinary sense of musicality" and "constantly charged with emotion and energy in a profoundly individual style."

2009 KAREN KIESER PRIZE IN CANADIAN MUSIC

November 19, 2009 - The 2009 Karen Kieser Prize in Canadian Music* has been awarded to Constantine Caravassilis for his work, Sappho de Mytilène for mezzo-soprano, flute and piano. A performance of the winning composition is planned for the gamUT ensemble concert on March 19, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. in Walter Hall, Toronto. Constantine Caravassilis obtained his masters in composition (M.Mus) at the U of M (Marcel A. Desautels Faculty of Music) where he studied simultaneously with Drs. Sandred, Fitzell and Matthews.  He is now in the third year of the Doctor of Musical Arts degree program at the University of Toronto on a full doctoral fellowship, specializing in composition and orchestral conducting.

*The Karen Kieser Prize in Canadian Music is awarded each year to a composer whose work is judged by a blue-ribbon jury as especially promising. Karen Kieser was a distinguished triple-graduate of the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto and a former Head of Music at CBC Radio. Friends and colleagues endowed The Karen Kieser Prize in Canadian Music upon her death in 2002 as a tribute to her life, her work and her passionate devotion to the cause of Canadian music and musicians.

• Constantine's website: www.caravassilis.net