Nominations for the 2022 JUNO Awards have been announced and the ARC Ensemble (Artists of The Royal Conservatory) is nominated for Classical Album of the Year, Small Ensemble for their latest recording Klebanov: Chamber Works, featuring the music of persecuted Ukranian composer Dmitri Klebanov.

The ARC Ensemble is among Canada's most distinguished cultural ambassadors. Performing a wide range of music, its focus remains the research and recovery of music that was suppressed and marginalized under the 20th century's repressive regimes. Klebanov, a Jewish Ukrainian nationalist, dedicated his First Symphony to the memory of the victims of Babi Yar, the massacre of 34,000 Jews in a Kyiv ravine. Stalin banned the work, and Klebanov’s music never found its rightful place in the repertoire. He died in 1987, shortly before the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

“The news from Ukraine is both hard to watch and impossible to ignore,” said Simon Wynberg, Artistic Director of the ARC Ensemble, about the recent invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces. “We are thinking of Jewish-Ukrainian composer, Dmitri Klebanov, whose career was a casualty of Soviet-era cultural suppression – his works nearly forgotten under Stalin's regime. May we listen to his music today and not forget the terrible cost of conflict and war.”

The following RCM alumni and Honorary Fellows have also been nominated for this year’s JUNO Awards:

 • Jan Lisiecki (RCM alumnus) for Chopin: Complete Nocturnes (Classical Album of the Year, Solo Artist)

 • Arkells (Mike De Angelis, Nick Dika, and Dan Griffin, RCM alumni) for Blink Once (Rock Album of the Year); and Group of the Year

 • Joshua Hopkins (RCM alumnus) for Songs for Murdered Sisters (Classical Album of the Year, Solo Artist)

 • Jon Kimura Parker (RCM alumnus), Jens Lindemann (RCM alumnus and Honorary Fellow), Matt Catingub & Canadian All Star JazzPops Orchestra for Then is Now Rhapsody in Blue (Instrumental Album of the Year)

 • Tate McRae (RCM alumna) for TOO YOUNG TO BE SAD (Pop Album of the Year, and Album of the Year)

 • Charlotte Day Wilson (RCM alumna) for ALPHA (Songwriter of the Year; Jack Wilson Producer of the Year; and Traditional R&B/Soul Recording of the Year)

 • Andrew Wan (RCM alumnus) and Charles Richard-Hamelin (Koerner Hall Artist) for Beethoven: Sonates pour violon et piano / Violin Sonatas Nos. 1, 2, 3 & 5 (Classical Album of the Year, Small Ensemble)

 • Elizabeth Shepherd (Koerner Hall artist) and Michael Occhipinti (Faculty, Oscar Peterson School of Music (formerly the Royal Conservatory School) for The Weight Of Hope (Vocal Jazz Album of the Year)

 • Andrés Vial (RCM alumnus) for When Is Ancient? (Jazz Album of the Year, Solo)

The 51st Annual Juno Awards will be broadcast live from Budweiser Stage in Toronto on May 15 at 8 p.m. ET on CBC and hosted by RCM alumnus, Simu Liu.