Judy Loman and Jacques Israelievitch Appointed to the Order of Canada

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Two more Faculty of Music instructors have been appointed members to the prestigious Order of Canada – harpist Judy Loman and violinist Jacques Israelievitch.

They join 15 other new members from across the University of Toronto. The awards, which were established in 1967, recognize outstanding achievement, dedication to community and service to Canada. The Governor General David Johnston awarded them on July 1.

“We are so happy for Judy and Jacques,” says Dean Don McLean.

“They both have such extraordinary international careers; we’ve been lucky to have them. They had transformative impact on the Faculty, their students, and the Canadian musical community.”

- Dean Don McLean

Loman has been with the Faculty of Music since 1966, teaching private and group harp lessons. Her students have gone on to successful careers in major cities with equally major orchestras – such as Jennifer Swartz, principal harp with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Mariko Anraku, a harpist with the Metropolitan Opera. Judy has commissioned and worked with countless Canadian composers on new works for harp such as the recording premiere of R. Murry Schafer’s Crown of Ariadne, which won a classical Juno award in 1979, the King David Sonata by Srul Irving Glick and the 15 Pieces for Harp by John Weinzweig. She performed with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1959 to 2002, afterwards focusing on teaching here and at the Curtis Institute and Royal Conservatory of Music.

Loman, who has lived in Canada since 1957 when she moved from the States, says this accolade is especially exciting for her. "This is the greatest honour I could imagine, to be recognized by the country whose values make me such a proud citizen.”

Israelievitch has been teaching at U of T since 1998, teaching violin lessons. He has held teaching appointments at York University and the Royal Conservatory of Music. He has appeared in orchestras around the world as a soloist, concertmaster and conductor – his concertmaster position at the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1998 to 2008 was the longest tenure for a leader in the ensemble’s history. He is also an accomplished chamber musician; he’s performed with distinguished artists such as Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman and Yo-Yo Ma. He is also an officer in the Order of Arts and Letters in his native France as well as a recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Toronto Musicians’ Association.

Israelievitch acknowledges how rewarding it is to be included in the Order of Canada. “It's particularly nice to receive this honour at the same time as Judy,” says Israelievitch. “We played many concerts together as a duo, including at U of T, and have a couple of recordings to show for it. And of course it was unexpected and a wonderful surprise! It is an honour to join all the wonderful people who have received this. I've been in Canada 27 years, played hundreds of concerts here and taught many students so it is very gratifying to get this kind of recognition.”