(CelebrityAccess) — Officials in Montreal revealed plans to create a public square in the city’s downtown and name it in honor of the late Canadian jazz legend Oscar Peterson.
According to the CBC, the square, which will be located near the Eaton Center between Ste-Catherine Street and de Maisonneuve Blvd, will include a statue of Peterson and other art installations celebrating his life and work.
“For more than 60 years, Oscar Peterson played around the world, he was an inspiration to generations of Montreal musicians,” Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante told reporters during a press conference, according to the Canadian Press. “Although he achieved worldwide fame, Oscar Peterson remained very attached to Montreal and composed many pieces about his home city, including ‘Place St. Henri,’ which is one of his classics.”
Peterson’s widow, Kelly Peterson, told the Canadian Press that the city was important to her late husband.
“The city didn’t give him his talent, of course, but its influences shaped him throughout his life,” she told the Canadian Press. “He was so very proud to have been born in Montreal, to have grown up in Montreal, to come back in to play the (jazz) festival.”
The city hopes to start work on the plaza, which will be named Oscar Peterson Place in 2023 and have it ready by 2025 in time for the 100th anniversary of Peterson’s birth.
