Andrew MacKelvie First Recipient of Upstream Music Association’s Paul Cram Creation Award

Following the concert with Symphony Nova Scotia at the Open Waters Festival 2020, Andrew MacKelvie was awarded the Paul Cram Creation Award.

Andrew MacKelvie is a practicing saxophonist and improviser based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he’s an active member for the improvised music community. He has performed multiple times for the two major improvised music non-profits in Halifax, Upstream Music Association and suddenlyLISTEN. With the help of Tim Crofts and Jerry Granelli he helped found the 1313 Music Associations and music education programs called the Creative Music Labs. He has recorded with some of the top musicians in the East coast. In 2017 he was a part of the Juno Nominated recording What I Hear Now by Jerry Granelli. He has released several recordings under his own name, including the 2014 solo release You Will Come Upon A Mountain, which is a collection of improvised pieces for solo saxophone. His latest record, Unearth, is by his ensemble New Hermitage and will be released in the Fall of 2019 by Tombed Visions Records (UK).

MacKelvie will receive a monetary prize of $2000.00 and a commission from Upstream that will be played during next year’s Open Waters Festival.

The Paul Cram Creation Award was established in order to sustain the memory of Paul Cram and his seminal work in developing Upstream’s activities in Halifax and furthering the performance of the music he loved. This is the first year that the award has been given.