Browse "Arts & Culture"

Alexander Thomas, writer, Indigenous leader (born on 25 December 1891 in Port Alberni, BC; died there on 28 July 1971).

Alexander (Reid) Tilley. Educator, composer, conductor, b St John's, Nfld, 8 Nov 1944; B SC (McGill) 1965, BA (Sir George Williams) 1966, B MUS (McGill) 1970. He was raised in Montreal and studied composition with Istvan Anhalt and Bruce Mather and double-bass with Tom Martin.

Alexander Whyte Wright, journalist, labour leader, politician (b at Elmira, Ont 17 Dec 1845; d c 1919). After some business attempts in southwestern Ontario, he became a journalist and newspaper editor in the 1870s.

Alexandra Luke, painter (born 14 May 1901 in Montréal, QC; died 1 June 1967 in Oshawa, ON). Alexandra Luke was one of two female founding members of the Ontario-based group of abstract artists known as Painters Eleven.

Alexandre Da Costa. Violinist, born Montreal 30 Oct 1979; MA and premier prix violin (Conservatoire de Musique du Québec à Montréal [CMM]) 1998, BA piano performance (Montréal) 1998, Concert Diploma Escuela Superior de Musica Reina Sofia (Madrid) 2001, post graduate diploma Universitat fur Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien (Vienna) 2004.

(J.-) Alexandre (Zénon) Laurendeau. Oboist, clarinetist, b Lachenaie, near Montreal, 13 Dec 1870, d Montreal 13 Jul 1933. He was clarinetist in the Montreal Concert Band under the direction of Edmond Hardy and, after 1890, in the Sohmer Park orchestra. He later studied oboe with a Father Geay.

Alexandre-M. (Marie) Clerk. Choirmaster, teacher, b Montreal 31 Aug 1861, d there 27 Jul 1932. In 1896 he succeeded R.-O. Pelletier as choirmaster at the Gesù Church.

Alexina Diane Louie, OC, OOnt, FRSC, composer, pianist, teacher (born 30 July 1949 in Vancouver, BC). Alexina Louie is one of Canada’s most celebrated composers. She writes music with an imaginative and spiritual blend of Asian and Western influences. Her compositions have earned many prizes, including multiple Juno and SOCAN Awards. Her most significant works include Scenes from a Jade Terrace (1988), Music for Heaven and Earth (1990) and Bringing the Tiger Down from the Mountain II (2004). Louie is the first woman to receive the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music and served as composer-in-residence at the Canadian Opera Company from 1996 to 2002. An Officer of the Order of Canada and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, she has received the Order of Ontario, the Molson Prize and a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement.

(Joseph Pierre) Alexis Contant. Composer, organist, teacher, pianist, b Montreal 12 Nov 1858, d there 28 Nov 1918.

In 1885 he became organist at St-Jean-Baptiste Church in Montréal, a position he retained until his death.

Margaret Alexis Fitzsimmons Smith, actor (born 8 June 1921 in Penticton, BC; died 9 June 1993 in Los Angeles, California). Alexis Smith was a movie star during Hollywood’s golden age, sharing the screen with some of the era’s most celebrated performers, such as Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart, William Holden and Cary Grant. She took a hiatus from Hollywood for a decade before winning a Tony Award in 1971 for her performance in Stephen Sondheim’s hit Broadway musical, Follies. Smith appeared in such television series as The Love Boat, Dallas and Cheers, and such films as The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944), Rhapsody in Blue (1945), the Canadian tax shelter thriller The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976), and Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence (1993).

Alexisonfire. Post-hardcore band, formed in 2001 in St. Catharines, Ontario and originally consisting of vocalist George Pettit, guitarist and vocalist Dallas Green, guitarist Wade MacNeil, bassist Christopher Steele and drummer Jesse Ingelevics. In 2005, Ingelevics was replaced by Jordan Hastings.

Alfie (Alfred) Noakes. Trumpeter, b Toronto 26 Jun 1903, d Christchurch, England, 27 Feb 1982.

Alfred Goldsworthy Bailey, historian, poet, man of letters (b at Québec City 18 Mar 1905; d at Fredericton 21 Apr 1997).

Alfred Bernier. Teacher, musicologist, choirmaster, composer, b Montreal 26 Oct 1896, d there 25 Apr 1953; BA (Montreal) 1919, PH D (Montreal) 1925, L TH (Montreal) 1932, D MUS sacred music (Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music, Rome) 1939.

Alfred Bryan. Songwriter, lyricist, b Brantford, Ont, 15 Sep 1871, d Gladstone, NJ, 1 Apr 1958. Raised in Brantford and from 1886 in London, Ont, Alfred Bryan attended the Collegiate Institute before moving to Chicago, working as a newspaper reporter.

Alfred De Sève (DeSève, Desève). Violinist, teacher, composer, (b St-Henri [Montreal] May or June 1858, d Montreal 25 Nov 1927). He began violin study at seven with Oscar Martel and made a promising debut six months later. He also was taught by Frantz Jehin-Prume.

Alfred DesRochers, journalist, translator, poet, critic (b at Saint-Élie d'Orford, Qué 5 Aug 1901; d at Montréal 12 Oct 1978). As a poet and critic DesRochers was an important figure in Québec literature between the wars.

Alfred E. (Edward) Zealley. Bandmaster, french hornist, writer, b Bristol 10 Jun 1878, d Agincourt, near Toronto, 15 May 1961. At 16 he became a bandboy in a military band and in 1898 he attended the RMS Kneller Hall.

Alfred (Joel) Fisher. Composer, pianist, teacher, b Boston 30 Jun 1942, naturalized Canadian 1974; B MUS (Boston) 1968, M MUS (Michigan State) 1967, PH D (Michigan State) 1976.