Montréal, February 6, 2023 – The Conseil des arts de Montréal and the Conseil québécois de la musique are delighted to award the Prix Opus Montréal award for inclusion and diversity to Ensemble Obiora.
The Prix Opus Montréal award for inclusion and diversity, which comes with a $10,000 cash prize, honours an artist, collective or organization that is culturally diverse or Indigenous or that introduces inclusive practices benefiting groups that are under-represented in Montréal’s cultural landscape. The award recognizes outstanding achievements whose artistic or social impact has brought credit to the concert music community in the past season.
The jury noted the winning organization’s positive impact on emerging artists from culturally diverse backgrounds and on music lovers, its ability to engage young professional musicians over the long term and the wide range of activities and partnerships it has developed. Among the orchestra’s notable achievements is its highly diverse repertoire that puts culturally diverse composers front and centre.
About Ensemble Obiora
As Canada’s first classical music ensemble composed primarily of musicians from diverse backgrounds, Ensemble Obiora’s mission is to promote musicians from various cultural communities in order to expand their presence on the classical music scene, and to program works by composers of colour whose music may be little known or overlooked.
Founded on the principle of the three D’s—Diversity, Discovery and Dissemination—Ensemble Obiora strives to bring new and diverse energy to Canada’s classical music scene, to forge a sense of belonging in underrepresented communities and to inspire the next generation of classical musicians.
About the Prix Opus awards
Created in 1996 by the Conseil québécois de la musique, the Prix Opus awards are dedicated to concert music. They are presented each year in February and honour musicians, events and presenters.
For over 20 years, the Conseil des arts de Montréal has been teaming up with the Conseil québécois de la musique to honour the excellence and diversity of Québec concert music through the Gala des Prix Opus.
About the Conseil des arts de Montréal
Through its various forms of assistance, the Conseil des arts de Montréal supports artistic innovation and creative expression in all its diversity, with the aim of promoting Montréal’s artists, producers and presenters. Since 1956, the Conseil has played a unique role as a catalyst for this artistic ecosystem, helping make Montréal one of the world’s great centres of culture.
