Making good on a collaboration he first outlined as part of last spring’s convocation address, 91��ɫ’s 2010 honorary-degree recipient and his wife, Jaya, an executive vice-president and vice-president, programming at ATN, pledged $100,000 earlier this month to create the Shan & Jaya Chandrasekar Visiting Artist/Scholar Residency in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Fine Arts. The commitment is the first step in what Chandrasekar hopes is a long-term association with the University, his family and ATN.

Above: Back row, from left, Paul Marcus, president & CEO, 91��ɫ Foundation; 91��ɫ President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri; Asian Television Network (ATN) President & CEO Shan Chandrasekar. Seated, from left, Faculty of Fine Arts Dean Barbara Sellers-Young and Jaya Chandrasekar, executive vice-president & vice-president, programming, ATN.

“There are untold opportunities for collaboration between artists and scholars and students at 91��ɫ,” he says. “I’m very keen to collaborate with 91��ɫ on initiatives that advance arts and culture around the world.”

Beginning later this year, for each of the next four years the Shan & Jaya Chandrasekar Visiting Artist/Scholar Residency will support a visiting artist or scholar whose expertise includes arts and culture in the South Asian or Southeast Asian region. The candidate will work intensively with 91��ɫ fine arts students and faculty, supporting research and teaching through activities like master classes, lectures, creative/technical demonstrations, art production, and exhibitions and installations.

“91��ɫ is extremely appreciative and grateful for Shan and Jaya Chandrasekar’s generosity,” says Mamdouh Shoukri, 91��ɫ’s president and vice-chancellor. “Shan and Jaya recognize 91��ɫ as an invaluable contributor to Canadian society. They have seen first-hand the impact of our institution in the community, in the province and across this nation."

“Shan is a valued a member of the Fine Arts Advisory Council and has long been an advocate for the arts,” says Faculty of Fine Arts Dean Barbara Sellers-Young. “I share Shan and Jaya’s excitement about what this new residency will mean for our students. The visiting South and Southeast Asian artists and scholars will provide new frameworks for considering the arts and their contribution to society.”

The Chandrasekars have been creating multicultural opportunities in business and the arts since the 1970s when they launched the first television programming dedicated to Toronto’s South Asian community. ATN followed, growing from a single program in 1993 to 33 specialty channels and the first and only 24-hour radio service reaching South Asian audiences throughout North America. In recognition of his contributions to private broadcasting in Canada, Shan Chandrasekar was inducted into the Canadian Broadcast Hall of Fame in 2004. Jaya Chandrasekar received the same honour in 2008.

“I’ve always been a bridge-builder, opening doors to diverse avenues of understanding about our world,” says Chandrasekar. “But now I’m working to achieve those goals in a new way, with a new partner.

“Education really is the greatest opportunity. I can only imagine where this exciting collaboration will take us next.”

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Performer, composer and educator Ron Westray has been appointed as the Oscar Peterson Chair in Jazz Performance at 91��ɫ.

“We’re excited and honoured to have an artist of Ron Westray’s calibre as the Chair,” said 91��ɫ President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri. “This Chair will enable us to further advance the quality of education for our fine arts students and carry on the legacy of Oscar Peterson at 91��ɫ.”

Left: Ron Westray

Westray is best known for his work as lead trombonist with the legendary Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO), and his collaborations with Wycliffe Gordon. He has appeared in concert with such luminaries as Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson, Stevie Wonder, Benny Carter, Dewey Redman, Roy Haynes, Randy Brecker and a host of other pre-eminent artists.

A regular on the New 91��ɫ City club circuit, he has played premier jazz venues such as the Village Vanguard, Blue Note, Sweet Basil, Iridium, Jazz Standard and Smalls, and is a standing member of the acclaimed Mingus Band. In addition to his concerts and recordings with the JLCO, Westray has recorded as a sideman on such major labels as Columbia Records, Sony Classical and RCA Novus. His latest CD as leader, Medical Cures for the Chromatic Commands of the Inner City (Blue Canoe Records, 2008), garnered a No. 1 listening rating on eMusic.com.

As a composer, Westray’s personal catalogue comprises dozens of original compositions and arrangements for big band and mixed ensembles. Among his numerous commissions for the JLCO is his monumental score, Chivalrous Misdemeanors – Select Tales from Don Quixote (2005), as well as arrangements of the works of Charles Mingus and Ornette Coleman. His charts were recently published by Walrus Music. His bibliography includes reviews and citations in DownBeat, JazzTimes, The New 91��ɫ Times and The New 91��ɫer.

The Oscar Peterson Chair in Jazz Performance was made possible by a $4-million endowment announced by the Ontario government in January 2008, along with $1 million to establish music scholarships for talented students from underprivileged backgrounds.

“I want to congratulate Ron Westray on this new appointment. He brings a wealth of talent and experience to the jazz performance program at 91��ɫ and its students. Our government is happy to do its part to honour the memory of Oscar Peterson by helping gifted music students pursue their own dreams,” said Premier Dalton McGuinty.

Barbara Sellers-Young, dean of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Fine Arts, said the Chair, under Westray, will expand and strengthen the program Peterson championed throughout his tenure at 91��ɫ.

“We’re delighted to launch this important new academic initiative with Professor Westray,” said Sellers-Young. “As the Oscar Peterson Chair, he will be working with the jazz faculty in our music department to develop a special student outreach and support program named for Peterson, to encourage talented aspiring jazz artists who might not otherwise have the opportunity to pursue university studies.”

An adjunct professor in 91��ɫ's Department of Music from 1984 to the late 1990s, Peterson was among Canada's most celebrated jazz artists. He was committed to teaching young people and established several student awards in the jazz program. Recipient of an honorary doctor of letters from 91��ɫ in 1982, Peterson was installed as 91��ɫ's eighth chancellor in September 1991 and served the University with distinction until February 1994. He was made an honorary governor of 91��ɫ in 1995 and was a Fellow of McLaughlin College. He died in Mississauga on Dec. 23, 2007.

“The appointment of Ron Westray as the Oscar Peterson Chair in Jazz Performance will give students and faculty in 91��ɫ’s outstanding jazz program the opportunity to learn from an extremely talented and prolific artist. It will also help to ensure that Oscar Peterson’s tremendous legacy lives on through the development of a new generation of jazz artists,” said John Milloy, minister of training, colleges & universities and minister of research & innovation.

91��ɫ offers jazz at all levels of undergraduate and graduate study, including a master and PhD in the field. The curriculum includes instrumental and vocal performance, history, theory, composition and arranging. Performance studies centre on small ensembles, plus jazz choirs and the 91��ɫ Jazz Orchestra. Repertoire spans jazz standards, big band, improvisation and contemporary jazz, enriched by world music traditions including Brazilian samba, Cuban jazz, gospel, West African drums, steel-pan and Afro-American music.

Westray joins colleagues at 91��ɫ who are among Canada’s pre-eminent jazz artists. Almost 40 full- and part-time faculty teach in the jazz program, including percussionist and music department chair Barry Elmes; bassist Al Henderson; saxophonists David Mott, Mike Murley and Kelly Jefferson; pianist Mark Eisenman; guitarist Lorne Lofsky; trumpeter Kevin Turcotte; multi-instrumentalist Sundar Viswanathan; and vocalists Bonnie Brett and Sacha Williamson.

Westray holds a BA in music from South Carolina State University and an MA from Eastern Illinois University. He comes to 91��ɫ from the University of Texas at Austin's Butler School of Music, where he was assistant professor in the Jazz Studies Program.

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