Renowned Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka is the 2014 recipient of the Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award for Singing. The $20,000 award will be presented at a special event in conjunction with her role debut as Amelia in the Canadian Opera Company's staging of Verdi's masterpiece A Masked Ball (Un ballo in maschera) in February.
Hailed for her “impeccably pure and iridescent voice” (Financial Times) Adrianne Pieczonka has appeared on leading opera and concert stages in Europe, North America and Asia under the direction of such conductors as James Levine, Riccardo Muti, Zubin Mehta, Sir Neville Marriner, Claudio Abbado, the late Richard Bradshaw, Lorin Maazel, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Anthony Pappano and the late Sir Georg Solti. In addition to performances at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, the Vienna Staatsoper, Paris, Berlin, Munich Frankfurt, Los Angeles, and La Scala, Adrianne has appeared at some of Europe’s finest summer festivals including Salzburg, Bayreuth, Glyndebourne and Lucerne.
Adrianne is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a recipient of the Queen’s Jubilee Medal and was named Kammersängerin by the Austrian government in recognition of her distinguished career. In May 2013, she was named an Honorary Fellow of The Royal Conservatory, and holds Honorary Doctorates from McMaster University and her alma mater, the University of Western Ontario.
The jury members stated that Adrianne Pieczonka has “remarkable gifts as a performer of opera and she is at the top of her career. She has a wide and varied repertoire, and has made a strong contribution to musical life in Canada through her many Canadian performances.”
The de Hueck/Walford Award was established at the Ontario Arts Foundation by the late Norman Walford, former Executive Director of the Ontario Arts Council, and the late Paul de Hueck, former CBC television production manager. The Ontario Arts Council is responsible for the nomination and selection process. The award was selected by a jury comprised of Catherine Abele, opera and vocal professor, singer (Edmonton), Raffi Armenian, conductor, professor (Verdun), and Stuart Hamilton, vocal coach, accompanist, broadcaster (Toronto).