(Toronto) The Weeknd picked up another armful of Junos this year, but the Canadian superstar didn’t show up in Edmonton to accept them.

Nominated in four categories — including artist of the year — the Toronto pop singer was nowhere to be found at a pre-telecast event on Saturday, where most of the awards are handed out.

The Weeknd, real name Abel Tesfaye, also bagged Song of the Year for Sacrifice, Pop Album for Dawn FM and Songwriter of the Year for his many hits. co-authored.

“Leading with four statuettes, The Weeknd joins Bryan Adams as the second-most honored artist at the Juno Awards,” event organizers said in a statement.

Other musicians have overcome obstacles to come to the Junos, including members of Arkels who faced flight cancellations in Newfoundland. Three of them nevertheless arrived in time to win their sixth Group of the Year award.

Montreal duo Banx

Montrealer Rêve, real name Briannah Donolo, won the dance recording of the year award for her track CTRL ALT  DEL, a recognition she described as inspiring and a signal to continue making music. music.

The prize for the French-speaking album of the year was awarded to the group Les Louanges, for its album Crash and the group Voivod was awarded the prize for the album of metal / hard music of the year thanks to Synchro Anarchy.

The Orchester de l’agora, under the direction of Nicolas Ellis, and with soloist Marina Thibeault, won the Juno for classical album of the year for large ensembles. The award for the classical album recorded by a small ensemble went to the album Early Italian Cello Concertos by cellist Elinor Frey, accompanied by the Rosa Barocca ensemble led by a conductor native of Montreal, but installed in Alberta, Claude Lapalme. Montreal pianist Philip Chiu won the Juno in the category classical album by a soloist.

The 52nd Juno Awards will be broadcast live from Rogers Place in Edmonton on Monday at 8 p.m. on CBC.