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Create AccountRaymond Dudley. Pianist, teacher, b Bowmanville, Ont, 20 Jun 1931, d Columbia, South Carolina, 16 Dec 2004; ARCT 1947, LRCT 1949, Artist Diploma (RCMT) 1952.
George (Dimitri) Sawa. Ethnomusicologist, b Alexandria, Egypt, 18 Jan 1947; B SC (Alexandria) 1969, Diploma performance and theory (RSM) 1970, Licentiate music education (RSM) 1970, MA musicology (Toronto) 1971, PH D Middle East and Islamic studies (Toronto) 1983.
Duo Turgeon, husband and wife piano team formed in 1994 by Edward Turgeon (born 13 July 1964 in Scarborough, ON), B MUS (Toronto) 1988, M MUS (Yale) 1993, MMA (Yale) 1994, DMA (Yale) 2000) and Anne Louise-Turgeon (born 10 Mar 1967 in Montréal, QC), B MUS (Toronto) 1989, M MUS (Yale) 1993, MMA (Yale) 1994, DMA (Yale) 2000).
Mott, David. Composer, saxophonist, administrator, b Downers Grove, Ill, 7 Jan 1945. B MUS (Berklee) 1968, M MUS (Yale) 1973, MMA (Yale) 1974, DMA (Yale) 1979. As a youth he studied clarinet and developed an interest in Dixieland jazz. He studied composition and visual arts at Hope College 1962-4.
In 1866 Smith resigned to nurse his ailing father. After his father's death, Smith moved to the US to teach at Cornell. He settled in Toronto in 1871 to be near relatives.
Ruth Elizabeth Borson, "Roo," poet (b at Berkeley, Ca 20 Jan 1952). Ruth Borson was raised in Berkeley, educated at Goddard College, Vermont, and moved to Vancouver in 1974, where she attended UBC.
Wayson Choy, CM, writer, teacher (born 20 April 1939 in Vancouver. BC; died 28 April 2019 in Toronto, ON). Wayson Choy was an influential Chinese Canadian novelist, memoirist and short-story writer. His debut novel, The Jade Peony (1995), tells an intimate tale of an immigrant family living in Vancouver’s Chinatown during the Second World War. It won the Trillium Book Award and the City of Vancouver Book Award in 1996. His second novel, All That Matters (2004), won the Trillium Book Award and was shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. His first memoir, Paper Shadows: A Chinatown Childhood (1999), won the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction. An openly gay man, Choy was also an advocate for LGBTQ2S rights as well as a dedicated teacher and mentor.
George Browne Jr, architect (b at Montréal, Canada East 1852 or 1853; d at South Nyack, NY 12 Mar 1919). After study with his father, a prominent Montréal architect, Browne travelled in Europe and went to South Kensington School of Art, London.
Bress, Hyman. Violinist, b Cape Town, South Africa, 30 Jun 1931, naturalized Canadian 1952, d Montreal 30 Oct 1995. He took his first lessons with his father, making his debut with the Cape Town Municipal Orchestra at nine and performing extensively in South Africa afterwards.
Don (Donald) Garrard. Bass, born Vancouver 31 Jul 1929; died Johannesburg, South Africa, 21 Sept 2011.
David L. (Leon) Kaplan. Administrator, conductor, clarinetist, b Chicago 12 Dec 1923; B MUS (Roosevelt) 1948, M MUS (Oberlin) 1950, PH D (Indiana) 1978. He taught at West Texas State U 1955-9 before moving to Canada in 1960.
Maud Lewis, artist (born 7 March 1903 in South Ohio, Nova Scotia; died 30 July 1970 in Digby, Nova Scotia).
Victor (John) Godfrey. Bass-baritone, born Deloraine, south of Brandon, Man 10 Sep 1934, died Meerbusch, Germany 26 Sep 2012.
Eva Matsuzaki, née Pupols, architect (b Latvia 27 Feb 1944). Matsuzaki immigrated with her family to the US at age 5. She attended Cornell University (1961-66), graduating with a Bachelor of Architecture.
Malcolm Forsyth, composer, educator (b at Pietermaritzburg, South Africa 8 Dec 1936, naturalized Canadian 1974; d at Edmonton 5 Jul 2011).
Robin Mathews, poet, playwright, nationalist (b at Smithers, BC 1931). Robin Mathews spent his early years in Powell River, BC and attended the University of British Columbia in the 1950s.
Al-Hajj Sayyd Abdul Al-Khabyyr (né Russell Linwood Thomas), soprano, alto and tenor saxophonist, clarinetist, flutist, composer (born 22 March 1935 in New York, New York; died 15 February 2017 in Montréal, QC).
Sandra Miju Oh, actor, producer (born 20 July 1971 in Nepean, ON). Sandra Oh is a versatile actor whose performances in film and television have won popular and critical acclaim. She won Genie Awards for her performances in Double Happiness (1994) and Last Night (1998) before gaining international recognition for her role in the successful ABC medical drama Grey’s Anatomy (2005–14). Her work has been groundbreaking for the visibility it has brought to roles for Asian actors in North America. With her lead role in the BBC America drama Killing Eve (2018–), Oh became the first actor of Asian heritage to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for best actress and the first to win a Golden Globe in that category since 1981. She was inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2011 and won a Governor General's Performing Arts Award in 2019.
Sylvia Saurette. (m Hubert). Soprano, born Letellier, south of Winnipeg, 27 Sep 1935, died Laval 14 Jul 2005; diploma (École Vincent-d'Indy) 1961.
This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on July 31, 1995. Partner content is not updated.
Both the star of Double Happiness and its writer-director have lived through such auditions in real life. Sandra Oh, 24, and Mina Shum, 29, both grew up in Canada. But, as struggling actors of Asian descent, they became all-too-familiar with the rituals of ethnic casting.
