Julian Armour, (born 29 September 1960 in

Missoula Missoula ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, Missoula County, Montana, United States. It is located along the Clark Fork River near its confluence with the Bitterroot River, Bitterroot and Blackfoot River (Montana), ...

, MT) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

cellist The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

and artistic director. Armour is married to

violist The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the v ...

Guylaine Lemaire. He is the son of the philosopher Leslie Armour.

Early life and education

Shortly after his birth in

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

, United States Armour's parents (both Canadian citizens) moved the family back to Canada. Armour majored in history, economics and English literature at the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...

. After graduation, he studied at

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

with Walter Joachim, a Canadian cellist. He later continued to study with cellists including

János Starker János Starker (; ; July 5, 1924 – April 28, 2013) was a Hungarian-American cellist. From 1958 until his death, he taught at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where he held the title of Distinguished Professor. Starker is conside ...

Ralph Kirshbaum Ralph Henry Kirshbaum (born March 4, 1946) is an American cellist. His award-winning career combines the worlds of solo performance, chamber music, recording and pedagogy. Early life and education Kirshbaum was born in Denton, Texas, and raised ...

Aldo Parisot Aldo Simoes Parisot (September 30, 1918 – December 29, 2018) was a Brazilian-born American cellist and cello teacher. He was first a member of the Juilliard School faculty, and then went on to serve as a music professor at the Yale School of Mu ...

and

Leonard Rose Leonard Joseph Rose (July 27, 1918 – November 16, 1984) was an American cellist and pedagogue. Biography Rose was born in Washington, D.C. His parents were Jewish immigrants, his father from Bragin, Belarus, and his mother from Kyiv, ...

Career

Armour performs throughout Canada, the United States and Europe. His music is played on

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

. As a chamber musician, he has appeared in television broadcasts on

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

, CTV,

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

EWTN The Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) is an American basic cable television network which presents around-the-clock Catholic programming. It is the largest Catholic television network in America, and is purported to be "the world's larges ...

, and

Vision TV VisionTV is a Television in Canada, Canadian English language Category A services, Category A specialty channel that broadcasts multi-faith, multicultural, and general entertainment programming aimed at the 45 and over demographic. VisionTV is ...

. He has recorded over 30 CDs for labels including Marquis, Crystal, ATMA, CMS Classics, CentreDiscs, SRI, CanSona, Studea Musica and

CBC Records CBC Records was a Canadian record label owned and operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which distributed CBC programming, including live concert performances, in album and digital format(s)."CBC Records is the corporation's biggest ...

. He is the founder of the Ottawa Chamber Music Society (OCMS). Until his resignation in March 2007, he was the OCMS' Artistic and Executive Director. Under his directorship, the OCMS's main event, the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, grew to become the world's largest chamber music festival. From 2003 to 2009, Armour was the president of the Ottawa Festival Network. In 2000 Armour received the ''Victor Tolgesy Arts Award'' from the

Canada Council for the Arts The Canada Council for the Arts (), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It is Canada's public arts funder, with a mandate to foster and promote the study a ...

. It recognizes those who contribute to the city's cultural enrichment. In 1999, he was awarded the Community Foundation's ''Investing in People Award'', in recognition of his efforts to bring classical music to new audiences. For his contributions to music, Armour was named a Chevalier de

l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant co ...

in December 2002 by the Government of France. Her Excellency the Right Honourable

Adrienne Clarkson Adrienne Louise Clarkson ( zh, c=伍冰枝; ; born February 10, 1939) is a Canadian journalist and stateswoman who served as the 26th governor general of Canada from 1999 to 2005. Clarkson arrived in Canada with her family in 1941, as a refuge ...

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada () is the federal representative of the . The monarch of Canada is also sovereign and head of state of 14 other Commonwealth realms and resides in the United Kingdom. The monarch, on the Advice (constitutional la ...

awarded Armour the

Meritorious Service Medal A Meritorious Service Medal is an award presented to denote acts of meritorious service, and sometimes gallantry, that are worthy of recognition. Notable medals with similar names include: Singapore *Pingat Jasa Gemilang, or Meritorious Services Me ...

in 2003. In 2011 he was awarded the "Friends of Canadian Music Award" by the Canadian League of Composers and the Canadian Music Centre for his contributions to Canadian composers. He has programmed and performed more than 1000 works by 400 different Canadian composers, including over 200 premieres. In addition to organizing full-concert tributes for more than 25 Canadian composers, Mr. Armour programmed a seven-concert festival of music specifically by women composers, as well as a series focused on emerging composers, entitled "30 under 30." He is currently the Artistic Director of the Chamber Players of Canada, Artistic and Executive Director of

Music and Beyond Music and Beyond is a Canadian summer music festival, featuring classical music in its varying formations (orchestras, choirs, bands, baroque groups and small ensembles) as well as a spectrum of art forms and cultural disciplines (visual art, dra ...

, and Principal Cellist of the chamber orchestra

Thirteen Strings Thirteen Strings is a chamber orchestra in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1976 by Brian Law, then conductor of the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, who led the ensemble until 1991. Its initial members were drawn from the National Arts Centre O ...

. For two years Armour taught cello masterclasses at th
Orford Music
He regularly teaches at the

, offering courses in both music performance and arts administration. He was the Chamber Music Programmer for

Galaxie Stingray Music is a Canada-based international multi-platform audio service that broadcasts continuous streaming music and other forms of audio on multiple channel feeds. The service is owned by Stingray Digital. It was originally founded in 1 ...

between 2007 and 2011. In 2010 Armour became Artistic and Executive Director of the festival,

. The "second great festival""Julian Armour is a civic treasure"
''The Ottawa Citizen'', Friday 7 May 2010 Armour has founded, Music and Beyond presents classical music in all its forms:

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

s, bands,

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

groups and small ensembles. In special concerts it features performances that embrace music's relationships with dance, poetry, food, wine, science and visual art.

References

;Citations

External links

Music and BeyondThe Ottawa Festival NetworkThe Chamber Players of Canada
{{DEFAULTSORT:Armour, Julian 1960 births Living people Musicians from Missoula, Montana American expatriate musicians in Canada Recipients of the Meritorious Service Decoration McGill University School of Music alumni University of Ottawa alumni American classical cellists