Flutist, composer and conductor Robert Aitken has won the $50,000 Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts, the Canada Council for the Arts announced yesterday.
The Toronto-based Aitken, 70, was awarded the prize by a peer jury for achieving artistic excellence throughout a decades-long career spent mostly in Canada. He is a laureate of the Order of Canada, having spent time as principal flute with the symphony orchestras of Toronto and Vancouver, as well as cultivating an international career as a soloist.
Toronto businessman and philanthropist Walter Carsen created the prize in 2001. Previous winners include Margie Gillis, Judith Thompson, R. Murray Schafer and Veronica Tennant. Staff