Julian Armour
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Julian Armour (born 29 September 1960 in Missoula, Montana, United States) is a Canadian cellist and artistic director.
Shortly after birth, Armour moved to Canada where his parents were citizens. He graduated from McGill University where he was a student of the distinguished Canadian cellist, Walter Joachim. In addition to his music studies, he also attended the University of Ottawa where he majored in history, economics and English literature. After graduation, he continued his studies with some of the greatest cellists of our time including Donald Whitton, János Starker, Ralph Kirshbaum, Aldo Parisot and Leonard Rose.
During his 20-year career, Armour has played numerous solo recitals in Ontario, and has performed throughout Canada as a chamber musician. Mr. Armour is also heard regularly on CBC Radio, both as a soloist and as a chamber musician. He is currently principal cellist of the chamber orchestra Thirteen Strings. He is the founder of the Ottawa Chamber Music Society, and was the Artistic and Executive Director of the Society until his resignation in March of 2007 due to a falling out with the Society's board of directors. Under his directorship, this Society's main event, the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival, grew to become the world's largest chamber music festival. Since 2003, he has also been the president of the Ottawa Festival Network.
Julian Armour was awarded the 2000 Victor Tolgesy Arts Award by the Council for the Arts in Ottawa, which recognizes the accomplishments of residents who have contributed substantially to enriching the cultural life in the city. In 1999, he was awarded the Community Foundation's Investing in People Award, in recognition of the work he has done bringing classical music to new audiences. Julian Armour was named a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in December 2002 by the Government of France for his contributions to music. He was recently awarded the Meritorious Service Medal by Her Excellency the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada.
Armour is married to violist Guylaine Lemaire.
[edit] References
- Thirteen Strings website, which includes much of the biographical information above.
- The Ottawa Festival Network
- Hayes, Florence. Armour, Julian. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved on 2007-11-04.