Honorary degree citation - Meredith Monk

By: Silvy Panet-Raymond, November 2018

Mr. Chancellor, it is my honour to present to you Ms. Meredith Monk, pioneering multidisciplinary performance artist.

There are few performance disciplines Ms. Monk has not mastered: she’s a singer, composer, director, choreographer, and filmmaker. She has also created new opera, music-theatre works and installations.

Ses œuvres explorent les confins de la musique et du mouvement, de l’image et de l’objet, de la lumière et du son. Ce sont des univers finement ciselés par son esprit de découverte, qui nous rattachent aux préoccupations intemporelles de l'existence sur terre.Par ses créations, madame Monk vise ainsi à découvrir et à entrelacer de nouveaux modes de perception.

Her interdisciplinary approach to creation and performance is rooted in a collaborative process that has become the standard for current practice. In all of these ways, her career represents many of the virtues and visions expressed by Concordia’s Faculty of Fine Arts.

Ms. Monk’s creativity is matched by her talent. Her innovative work in what is now called “extended vocal technique” saw her named one of National Public Radio’s 50 Great Voices. That’s just one in a long list of accolades that includes a MacArthur Genius Award and a National Medal of Arts presented to her by President Barack Obama.

Mr. Chancellor, on behalf of Senate and the Board of Governors, it is my privilege and honour to present to you Ms. Meredith Monk, so that you may confer upon her the degree of Doctor of Fine Arts, honoris causa.