SOCAN members lead nominations for 2011 Juno Awards

Drake is nominated for six 2011 Juno Awards, and will host the ceremonies in Toronto on March 27.

SOCAN members Drake, Hannah Georgas, Royal Wood, Sarah McLachlan and Arcade Fire are nominated in the Songwriter of the Year category at the 2011 Juno Awards.

Drake will also host the awards ceremony, and tops the Juno nomination list with six, while indie rockers Broken Social Scene, pop-rock outfit Hedley, singer-songwriter Johnny Reid andteen phenomenon Justin Bieber follow closely with four each. The three former artists, as well as Arcade Fire and Down With Webster, are slated to perform at the gala Juno Awards ceremony Sunday, March 27, at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. The show will air live on the CTV network.

On March 23, during the JunoFest week of events leading up to the awards, SOCAN will co-sponsor (with the Canadian Music Publishers Association) The Juno Songwriters’ Circle at Massey Hall, hosted by Johnny Reid, featuring Luke Doucet, Lynn Miles, Royal Wood and Sylvia Tyson. Tickets are on sale now online at www.ticketmaster.ca and www.masseyhall.com, by phone at (416) 872-4255, or in person at the Roy Thomson Hall box office (60 Simcoe St., Toronto). The circle is a fundraising benefit for MusiCounts. For more details, visit the Juno Awards website.

The nominations for Classical Composition of the Year are:
• Clark Ross for Last Dance
• Jocelyn Morlock for Exaudi
• Larysa Kuzmenko for Piano Concerto
• Peter-Anthony Togni for Quomodo Sedet Sola Civita (How doth the city sit solitary)
• R. Murray Schafer for Duo For Violin and Piano

Francophone Album of the Year nominees are:
• Bernard Adamus for Brun
• Daniel Bélanger for Nous
• Fred Pellerin for Silence
• Karkwa for Les chemins de verre
• Radio Radio for Belmundo Regal

For more information and a complete list of nominees, visit the Juno Awards website.