Standing Wave’s Peggy Lee has been honoured with the City of Vancouver’s Mayor’s Arts Award for Music.
As many of you well know, Peggy is a cellist, improviser, and composer, who makes her home in Vancouver where she is part of a rich, creative music community. She records and performs with longtime musical associates including Tony Wilson, Ron Samworth, Dylan van der Schyff, John Korsrud, Veda Hille, Lisa Miller, Wayne Horvitz, and Robin Holcomb.
Lee also leads or co-leads a number of musical projects: The Peggy Lee Band, Film in Music, Waxwing (with Tony Wilson and Jon Bentley), and Beautiful Tool (with Mary Margaret O’Hara). Other performing credits include the Vancouver Opera Orchestra and, of course, 
Standing Wave.
Lee has collaborated extensively in theatre and dance with companies and artists such as Ruby Slippers, Rumble Theatre, Presentation House, David Hudgins, EDAM, Kokoro Dance, Delia Brett, and Ziyian Kwan. Peggy has received previous awards including the Freddie Stone Award for integrity and innovation in music (2005) and a Jessie Richardson Theatre Award for outstanding composition (2010).
Congratulations Peggy on this well-deserved recognition of your contribution to the Vancouver arts community!
And in case that wasn’t enough good news for one day, alongside Peggy, Cole Schmit was recognized by the Mayor as an Emerging Artist. Cole is an active participant in Vancouver’s creative music scene. In addition to curating the weekly music series “NoSchMo,” which features original, improvising groups, he regularly performs with such local mentors as Peggy Lee, Ron Samworth, and Tony Wilson.
As a composer, Schmidt spends the majority of his time writing and recording with 2013 Juno Award winners Pugs and Crows and the newly formed group Sick Boss. He can also be heard alongside other local artists such as Debra-Jean Creelman, Copilots, Karen Foster, and Soft Morning City.
He was awarded the Galaxy Rising Star Award in 2010 for his performance with Pugs and Crows, and was a participant in the 2011 Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music. Schmidt has toured throughout North America and Europe, including a five-week tour with Drip Audio’s Dark Blue World in Eastern Europe and Russia, and the Vilnius Jazz Festival. Congratulations, Cole!
You can learn more about the City of Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Awards by clicking HERE.
Check out the Peggy Lee’s site by clicking HERE.
And Cole’s NoSchMo site is HERE.
