Martin Bonham and Lloyd Howard Travel to Italy Award
Martin Bonham, a member of the Victoria Symphony from 1978 to 2019 and during that time, as one of Victoria’s leading chamber musicians, he also established himself as one of the top early music specialists in Western Canada, with performances for Vancouver Early Music, the Early Music Society of the Islands and Victoria Baroque. He was cofounder with Kazue Kazahaya Seki of Les Violes de Saint-Colombe, a founding member of the Pacific Baroque Orchestra and the Musick Masters, was music director of Chamber Music Victoria for a decade and for 6 years, directed Eine Kleine Summer Music. His interest in recreating early dance led to a role in the 1990’s as Music Director and one of the dancers in Movimento!, Victoria’s early dance and theatre company at the time.
In recent years his travels to Europe, particularly to Italy, with his husband, Lloyd, have enriched his understanding of the great traditions of classical music. He hopes that this award will afford music students at the University of Victoria similar opportunities to gain knowledge and experience.
Lloyd Howard received his PhD from the Johns Hopkins University in 1976, after which he was appointed to the University of Victoria where he taught Italian language, culture and literature at both the undergraduate and graduate levels until his retirement in 2016. During the 39 years of his tenure at UVic he served as chair of the Department of Hispanic and Italian Studies for a total of 15 years (between 1989 and 2015), twice as acting dean of the Faculty of Humanities, and a three-year term as director of the Medieval Studies Program. His research focuses primarily on Dante's Divine Comedy, which has resulted in numerous articles and two monographs. He is currently professor emeritus of Italian Studies and adjunct professor in the Faculty of Graduate Studies.