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For over two decades, ECF has awarded
the Ranald & Vera Shean Memorial
Scholarships, Winspear and Alexandra Munn
Scholarships, and the John and Andrea Wallin
Awards to provide opportunity, exposure and
the money needed to help talented young
musicians reach their literal next stages — in
Edmonton, and around the world.
Munn, who passed away in September
2023, was a musical prodigy in her own right,
graduating from Juilliard at the age of 21, where
she completed a four-year program in just
two years. This was the start of her 60-year
legacy of teaching and performing music across
Alberta including conducting the Richard Eaton
Singers as well as Da Camera Singers.
Ranald and Vera Shean, both members
of Edmonton’s Cultural Hall of Fame, were
22 Together we thrive
highly respected teachers as well, and were
known to help students, out of pocket, with
tuition and travel. Each year, the John and
Andrea Wallin Awards provide up to four
students with financial support of between
$1,000 to $8,000.
“It’s been such a delight to see Jacques
achieve so much,” says Anna Opryshko, ECF’s
Student Awards Associate. “Our donors’
dream of supporting future generations of
Edmonton musicians is coming to life before
our eyes, and it’s truly wonderful.”
Forestier’s received all three of ECF’s
music awards over his still-less-than-10-
year career, and thanks to years of obsessive
practice, and plenty of ECF support, it’s about
to take off.
“For example, here at [The Curtis
Institute], every student is tuition free.
But room and board, which is required, is
close to $30,000 Canadian. My parents are
both also classical musicians, [so] it would
be very difficult to sustain that financially,
without taking out a loan. All three of these
scholarships have all played a pivotal role
in where I am today. They’ve made this all
possible for me, at the stage that I’m at now.”
The stage he’s at now requires a manager,
which he got for an upcoming European
tour, and a recording booth, which Warner
Classics has provided for his debut album, to
be released in 2026. “The artists who have
recorded with Warner are really the best
in the world,” he says, adding that, without
ECF’s support, he wouldn’t be recording and
touring right along with them.
Wherever the future takes him, Forestier
says Edmonton will never be far from his
heart — or his virtuoso hands. “I feel like
I’m still very much a part of [Edmonton’s
classical music scene]. I came back in
October [2024] for a concert, and I’ll be
coming back for two more concerts [this]
year. I come back all the time, and there are
many presenters in Edmonton that I really
hope to work with in the future. Because it’s
where I come from, and I owe a lot to the
city, ECF and to my family.”