Duff Roman, Liona Boyd Amongst New Order of Canada Recipients

By Kerry Doole

Over the holiday period, Governor-General Mary Simon announced 135 new appointments to the coveted Order of Canada. The new appointees include 2 Companions (C.C.), 39 Officers (O.C.), 1 honorary Member and 93 Members (C.M.), and Canadian artists and music industry figures were again well-represented.

The Order of Canada is one of our country’s highest civilian honours. Created in 1967, the Order of Canada recognizes outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation. More than 7,000 people from all sectors of society have been invested into the Order. Those who bear the Order’s iconic snowflake insignia have changed our nation’s measure of success and, through the sum of their accomplishments, have helped us build a better Canada.

Here are the Canadian music industry notables honoured, in alphabetical order and with a short profile.

Liona Boyd. She becomes an Officer of the Order, a promotion within the Order, honoured "For her significant and sustained contributions to Canada’s musical landscape as 'The First Lady of Guitar.'"

After releasing her debut album in 1974, this classical guitarist quickly gained national popularity. She has released albums at a prolific rate since then (the tally now stands at 28), accumulating five Juno Awards and becoming an in-demand concert performer, while continuing to take chances as an artist.

She has performed solo and orchestral concerts around the world, had her own television specials, and performed for many heads of state. Boyd has been given five Honorary Doctorates, The Order of Canada, The Order of Ontario and the Diamond Jubilee Medal. She is a five-time winner of the Guitar Player Magazine poll for best classical guitarist, is a member of the Gallery of Greats, and was recently given a Lifetime Achievement award in the USA by the National Guitar Museum. Liona has also toured and recorded as a singer and songwriter.

Read a recent FYI feature on Liona Boyd here

John Estacio - Edmonton, Alberta. Named as a Member "For his expertise as a composer and for his contributions to Canadian opera."

Ontario-born Estacio is a contemporary Canadian composer of opera, orchestral and choral music. In 1992, his first major orchestral work, Visoes da Noite, won second-prize in the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra’s Canadian Composers Competition.

From 1992 to 2000, Estacio was Composer in Residence of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, where he created many orchestral works, participated in novel audience outreach programs, and created the Young Composers Project. From 2000 to 2003, he was Composer in Residence with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra and the Calgary Opera. There he wrote the opera Filumena (based on the life of Filumena Lassandro) with librettist John Murrell. It has been widely performed and was filmed for CBC television broadcast.

Estacio has also been commissioned to write works for the TSO, MSO, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the CBC Radio Orchestra, the Banff International String Quartet Competition, and the Penderecki String Quartet. His music has been performed by all the major Canadian orchestras, as well as internationally. He received SOCAN’s Jan V. Matejcek Concert Music Award in 2004, 2005, and 2007, as well as Young Composer Awards from SOCAN and PROCAN in 1989, 1990, 1992 and 1994.

Yves Lambert - Sainte-Mélanie, Quebec. Named as a Member "For his role in the revival, modernization and promotion of traditional French-Canadian music."

Yves Lambert was a member of noted Quebec folk group La Bottine Souriante from 1976 to 2003, recording 11 albums and touring internationally with them. He continued his career for 15 years with the Bébert Orchestra as well as leading the Yves Lambert Trio. He has collaborated with Beau Dommage, Les Charbonniers de l'Enfer, The Chieftains, and many more.

Lambert has earned many Felix and Canadian Folk Music Awards nominations and wins for his work.

Andrew Paul MacDonald - Sherbrooke, Quebec. Named as a Member "For his contributions to contemporary Canadian classical, jazz and electronic music, as an educator, composer and performer." The Order of Canada appointment comes just as MacDonald's 34-year stint in Bishop’s University’s music department comes to a close.

The Sherbrooke Record writes that MacDonald "is excited about new works that will result from having his name in the news. After winning a Juno Award in the mid-nineties, he remembers a decade of increased commissions and inspiring collaborations." “I’m not finished saying what I’ve got to say yet. I’ve got a lot more music to write," he told the paper.

MacDonald won the 1995 Juno Award for Best Classical Composition for his Violin Concerto. His many compositions have been performed across the country by such notable ensembles as the TSO, l’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the Esprit Orchestra, l’Orchestre symphonique de Québec, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, Symphony Nova Scotia, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and many more.

He has had works commissioned by noted orchestras, chamber ensembles, solo performers, music competitions, the Canadian Opera Company and the CBC, and have been performed internationally. Recordings featuring his work have won  East Coast Music and Canadian Independent Music Awards. MacDonald is a past Vice-President and Council member of the Canadian League of Composers and founding Artistic Director of Ensemble Musica Nova.

Jackie Richardson - Thornhill, Ontario. Made an Honorary Member, by appointment. She is cited "For her contributions as a Canadian jazz legend, and as a leader and mentor to young performers in her community. "

Richardson is a Toronto-based singer and actor who has had a long and illustrious career. Born in Pennsylvania in 1947, she moved to Toronto with her family seven years later. She was a member of 1960s girl group The Tiaras, and subsequent work in music earned her the title of “Canada’s first lady of gospel, blues and jazz."

She has also worked extensively as a TV, film, and stage actress. Richardson is a three-time Gemini Award nominee, winning for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series for The Gospel According to the Blues. In 2003 she was nominated for the NAACP Image Award for Best Actress in a Television Movie for Sins of the Father. Other screen roles include Turning to Stone, The Doodlebops, and Catwalk.

Richardson is also a noted stage performer, winning a Dora Award in 2004 for the musical Cookin' at the Cookery. Other high-profile projects include Milk and Honey, More Tales of the City, Further Tales of the City, Hey Lady! and 3 Men and a Baby.

The musical Big Mama! The Willie Mae Thornton Story was conceived and written by Audrei-Kairen Kotaska for Richardson, who starred in the production first in 1999 and then again in 2012. In 2017, she won the Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award for her theatre and music achievements.

Duff David Mostoway Roman - Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Named as a Member "For his contributions to the Canadian music industry as a broadcaster and executive, and for his steadfast promotion of Canadian talent."

Originally from Saskatchewan, Roman’s on-air career began with stints in Medicine Hat, Saskatoon and Edmonton, prior to joining Toronto’s CKEY. He moved to CHUM in 1965 and although he left briefly a few times, that was his main broadcast home for the majority of his career. There, Roman served as the General Manager for CHUM-FM, was a CHUM Limited Vice President, and from 2007 to 2009, was the Head of CHUM Radio for CTV.

Roman was the founding President for FACTOR (the Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings), and past Chairman of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters . He also was a pioneering record producer in Canada with his own label, Roman Records and with partners in the Red Leaf label. His studio sessions include producing Levon and The Hawks (later known as The Band), Little Caesar and The Consuls, and several hits for David Clayton-Thomas, pre  Blood, Sweat and Tears.

Duff Roman received the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award at the 2019 Juno Gala Dinner & Awards Presented by SOCAN. He has been inducted into three broadcast Halls of Fame: the Canadian Association of Broadcasters in 2001, The Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame in 2006 during Canadian Music Week and the Ontario Association of Broadcasters Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010.

Reginald Schwager - Toronto, Ontario. Named as a Member "For his indelible contributions to the Canadian jazz scene as a leading guitarist and composer."

Reg Schwager was born in the Netherlands in 1962, settling in Sudbury with his family at age six. By age 15 he was playing jazz gigs in big band and small group settings and in duet with his sister Jeannette. Schwager was already performing in Canada with vibraphonist Peter Appleyard in his mid-teens.

After he moved to Toronto in 1979, he began working with such players as Renee Rosnes and Ralph Bowen, Phil Nimmons, Dave McMurdo, Herbie Spanier and Pat Labarbera. He has been working steadily on the Toronto jazz scene and in other musical areas including new music (New Music Concerts, Hemispheres and Sound Pressure, among others) and improvised music (with musicians such as Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink). His reputation led to performances with Pepper Adams, Jon Hendricks, Hank Jones, Junior Mance, Jimmy McGriff, Zoot Sims, Chet Baker, Dave Young, Rob McConnell, and Oliver Jones, as well as a long-term tenure in George Shearing's working group and a position in the  Dave McMurdo Jazz Orchestra, to which he is a regular contributor of compositions and arrangements.

AllMusic calls him "a distinctly singular voice on his instrument, Schwager's playing reflects a thorough understanding of the entire history of the genre, from the pre-swing through the free jazz movements." He has released many albums under his name, beginning with 1986's acclaimed Resonance, on Justin Time Records.

Ian Tamblyn - Chelsea, Quebec. Made an Officer of the Order "For his enduring contributions as a folk music icon, adventurer and cultural ambassador for Canada."

Tamblyn is a veteran folk music singer/songwriter, record producer, adventurer, and playwright. Born and raised in Fort William, ON, he studied at Trent University, subsequently settling in Chelsea, Quebec.

He released a demo cassette, Moose Tracks, in 1971. His self-titled 1976 debut album, Ian Tamblyn, which won a Juno Award for Best Album Cover that year. Since that time, the prolific artist has completed over 25 recording projects, playing guitar, piano, hammered dulcimer, and synthesizer, as well as singing.

Tamblyn has recorded a number of instrumental albums inspired by his adventure travels to remote places such as the north shore of Lake Superior, the Nahanni River, and the Chukchi Sea, and his participation in scientific research expeditions to locations such as Greenland and Antarctica. Magnetic North and Antarctica incorporate on-location field recordings into the music, with the former nominated for a Juno Award for Best Instrumental Album of 1990. 

In 1999, Tamblyn composed the background music for the first season of the Canadian animated TV series Toad Patrol.  In 2008 Tamblyn produced the majority of the tracks on Dancing Alone, a two CD tribute album of the songs of influential Canadian songwriter and poet William Hawkins. In 2010 he won the English Songwriter of the Year category at the Canadian Folk Music Awards.

See the complete list of Order of Canada recipients here.