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Leonard Cohen Named winner of Glenn Gould Prize
Peter Kramer/The Canadian Press
TORONTO — Toronto filmmaker Atom Egoyan figured he had a daunting task ahead of him when he joined the jury for this year’s international Glenn Gould Prize, which honours a lifetime contribution to the arts.
But when he and his fellow jurors came together for the first time this week to pore over the list of 60 candidates from around the world, deliberations were fast and smooth after they came upon the name of Leonard Cohen.
“I’ve been on other juries which were a lot more divided or acrimonious, and this one was a candidate that we were all really excited about,” Egoyan said Friday after the legendary Montreal-born musician, poet and novelist was named the ninth laureate of the $50,000 prize.
“There’s a wonderful relationship that we all have towards his music. ... The jury, we’re all different ages and we all feel that he is this really special figure in our world, so it was a unanimous choice.”
Well, it was almost unanimous, joked British actor and author Stephen Fry, who was also on the jury.
“I have to confess to slight bewilderment — I thought we’d agreed that Justin Bieber was going to win,” he quipped at the packed news conference.
Getting serious, Fry explained that he’s been “an enormous admirer” of Cohen since he was young.
“I think it’s very important that the Glenn Gould Prize should go to someone who’s not just a child of a particular decade, who was a voice for a small, fashionable period, if you like, but someone who has a really permanent place in artistic history,” said Fry.
“And I don’t think any of us doubt that in 100 years time, Leonard Cohen will be read and listened to as eagerly as he is now.”
The prize, which is sometimes called “The Nobel Prize of the Arts,” was established in 1987 and is awarded biennially to a living luminary in memory of Canadian pianist Glenn Gould. Contenders are submitted via the Glenn Gould Foundation website. Past winners include Pierre Boulez, Oscar Peterson, Yo-Yo Ma and Dr. Jose Antonio Abreu, who was the last recipient.
The famously reclusive Cohen, 76, wasn’t on hand to receive the prize Friday and a publicist said he wasn’t available for interviews. But in a statement, the illustrious talent — who is a companion of the Order of Canada and inductee of several music halls of fame — thanked the Glenn Gould Foundation for giving him the prize.
“It is a great honour, sweetened by my love of the work of Glenn Gould, and our collective appreciation of his invigorating and enduring presence in the world of music and imagination.”
As part of the honour, Cohen gets to choose a young artist to receive the $15,000 City of Toronto Glenn Gould Protege Prize. Organizers say a protege will be announced at a later date. Plans are also underway to bring Cohen to the city to pick up his prize later this year.
This year’s prize jury also included Chinese singer-songwriter Dadawa, American pianist Gary Graffman and recording industry executive Costa Pilavachi, who hails from Canada, the U.K. and Greece. Other Canadians on the panel included film producer Phoebe Greenberg and vocal coach to the stars, Elaine Overholt.
Graffman was the only person on the jury who knew Gould (the two became friends in the 1950s) and said the late great Canadian pianist would’ve been proud to see Cohen win the award.
“If he were on the jury ... he would’ve voted, definitely, with great enthusiasm, the way we did,” the New York native said in an interview.
“Yesterday we spent the entire day, morning and afternoon, discussing this. ... Somehow when (Cohen’s) name came up, it just seemed to click.”
The Canadian Press
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