July/August, 2005

Publication title: Canadian Musician, vol. 27, Iss. 4, pg. 17
Place: Toronto
Writer: Unknown

ECMA Presents First Sarah McLachlan Scholarship To PEI Musician

The East Coast Music Association (ECMA) and Sarah McLachlan presented the first annual ECMA Sarah McLachlan Scholarship to PEI musician, Jacques Arsenault at Pier 21 in Halifax on June 1.

Annually, this scholarship will be presented to what the association sees as a deserving and eligible young musician from an under-served community. The candidate will be selected from the host province of the annual ECMA Awards and Conference, which rotates annually.

Originally from Wellington, PEI, Arsenault began playing the piano and accordion at five years old and later went to Paris to study the accordion with Frédéric Guerouet. He just finished his second year in the Bachelor of Music program and the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI), where he studied organ with Dr. F. Alan Ressor and vocals with Stephen Bouey.

Arsenault is the recipient of both Bell and Ressor Awards at UPEI and won the Advance Organ Award. This summer he will be performing two solo concerts as a part of the Organ Recitals 2005 series in Charlottetown and Tignish, PEL

Not only was the ceremony for presenting the ECMA Sarah McLachlan Scholarship Fund, but also for the ECMA to present The Directors’ Special Achievement Award to McLachlan. She has won this six times previously, and other recipients are Peter Gzowski and Anne Murray.