Rena Sharon shares the “enigma of music” with students, audiences alike
by Bruce Mason staff writerRena Sharon, a renowned pianist and mentor, is the recipient of the top award
in the university’s largest faculty, the Dean of Arts Award. The award recognizes
the Music professor for her success at the keyboard, in the community, and in
the lecture and recital hall.
“For 25 years I’ve been fascinated by the enigma of music,” she says. “The
relation between organized sound and transcendent states is ubiquitous in human
cultures throughout history. It suggests intrinsic qualities which act powerfully
on the body and mind in ways yet to be understood.”
To those who suggest music is a decorative diversion she points to a quote
on her office wall in which Einstein credits classical music for the Theory
of Relativity.
Sharon’s field is collaborative piano studies. One of the foremost chamber
musicians in Canada, she began her life in music at the age of eight in her
native Montreal.
She regularly performs with the world’s most distinguished musicians in venues
such as the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. and the Ford Centre in Toronto.
She is also heard frequently as a recording artist and guest on CBC national
radio. Considered a “a national treasure” among critics, she consistently earns
reviews for “exquisite music-making…the deep compassion of her playing…hair-trigger
precision in perfectly conceived readings.” Another of her musical passions
is the art of song, a subject of many of her public lectures.
“The combination of music and poetry is complex and creates a language of
its own,” she says.
Sharon is artistic director of two student-oriented organizations–the Song
Circle, an innovative performance company for singers and pianists and the Young
Artist Experience, an intensive chamber music camp for teens with a strong interdisciplinary
program of arts, science, and philosophy.
UBC’s $5,000 Dean of Arts Award, established by an anonymous donor, is equal
to the Killam Teaching Prize and recognizes exceptional contributions by Arts
faculty in at least two of the fields of teaching, research, administration,
public service and performance.
It is presented in the name of a living professor emeritus who has made a
significant contribution to Arts at UBC. This year it is named for Music Prof.
Emeritus Robert Rogers.
“I’m delighted that a former colleague is also being honoured, particularly
since he gave so much as a mentor and counsellor,” says Sharon.
“Music is hugely competitive and although I teach eight hours a day it is
essential to reach back into your own fatigue to find extra time and energy
when students face a difficult challenge,” she says. “The payoff is those you
coach to Carnegie Hall concerts and Canada Council grants.”
“In teaching there is a small miracle, a moment of transmission to someone
with a need to know,” she says. “The pleasure of hearing new freedom and insight
in their music-making is truly addictive.”
