Angela Hewitt was awarded the degree of Doctor of Music, honoris causa, at the 2:00 p.m. ceremony on Friday, June 13, “in recognition of an outstanding contribution to music as a superb and inspiring performer, a brilliant interpreter of classical music and supporter of the arts.
One of the world’s leading pianists, Ottawa-born Angela Hewitt regularly appears in recital and with major orchestras throughout Europe, the Americas and Asia. Her performances and recordings of Bach have drawn particular praise, marking her out as one of the composer’s foremost interpreters of our time.
Born into a musical family, she began her piano studies at age three, performing in public at four and, a year later, winning her first scholarship. She then went on to learn with French pianist, Jean-Paul Sévilla. In 1985, she won the Toronto International Bach Piano Competition.
She launched her own Trasimeno Music Festival in the heart of Umbria near Perugia in 2005. An annual event, it draws an international audience to the Castle of the Knights of Malta.
In 2012-‘13, Hewitt began a major project to perform Bach’s The Art of Fugue in two programs in major halls worldwide, based around concerts at the Royal Festival Hall in London as part of the International Piano Series. This follows on from the celebrated project “Angela Hewitt’s Bach Book” in 2010, where Ms. Hewitt gave world premieres of six newly-commissioned works by leading composers at Wigmore Hall.
Her work has been widely honoured. A Juno Award-winner, she was named Artist of the Year at the 2006 Gramophone Awards. She was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2000 and was awarded an Officer of the British Empire in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2006.