Search for ""

Thomas (Edmund) Rolston. Violinist, violist, teacher, b Vancouver 31 Oct 1932, d there 29 May 2010; LRSM 1949, ARAM 1961, honorary LLD (Wilfrid Laurier) 1998.

Robbin has performed in recital and in oratorios and concerts with major Canadian orchestras and choirs. She also has sung with the Boston SO, the Buffalo Philharmonic, the English Baroque Soloists, the National SO, and the St Louis SO, among others.

Leonard Mayoh. Baritone, choir conductor, b Eagley, England, 8 Jan 1918, d Winnipeg 26 Jul 1978; ARMCM 1947, B MUS (Acadia) 1964.

Marilyn Lerner, jazz pianist, composer (born 4 February 1957 in Montréal, QC), hon BFA (York) 1980. Marilyn Lerner began her formal musical training at an early age, enrolling at Montreal's Ecole Vincent d'Indy 1965-75.

Pierre Bourque. Saxophonist, teacher, b Plessisville, Que, 27 Jan 1938; premier prix (Paris Cons) 1961. While attending the Collège de Lévis, Bouque was a member of the Sainte-Cécile concert band (1948-55).

Tenney, James (Carl). Composer, teacher, pianist, conductor, b Silver City, N Mex, 10 Aug 1934, d Valencia, Cal 24 Aug 2006; BA (Bennington College) 1958, M MUS (Illinois) 1961. Tenney studied piano as a child, and 1952-3 took engineering at the University of Denver.

Suzie LeBlanc. Soprano, teacher, actress, harpsichordist, born Edmunston, NB, 27 Oct 1961; honorary D LL (Mount Allison) 2009, honorary D CL (King’s College University, Halifax) 2008.  Suzie LeBlanc is of Acadian heritage, but grew up listening to and practicing classical music.

 In 1980 MacGillivray founded his own production company, Picture Plant, for which he wrote and directed 4 feature films - STATIONS (1983), Life Classes (1987), The Vacant Lot (1989) and Understanding Bliss (1990) - that explore the relationships between art and life.

The evolution of Québec's cultural policy is markedly distinct from that in Canada as whole, in terms of trends and dynamics and through federal action as well as the initiatives in other provinces.

Vogt taught at Acadia University (1977-8), the University of Toronto (1978-9), Lakehead University, and the University of Western Ontario (1979-80), and in 1980 joined the staff at the University of Victoria, where he became head of the piano department in 1991.

William Canniff, physician, amateur historian (b at Thurlow, Upper Canada 20 June 1830; d at Belleville, Ont 18 Oct 1910).

William Herbert Dray, philosopher, professor (born at Montréal PQ 23 June 1921; died at Toronto ON 6 Aug 2009). After serving as a navigator in the RCAF (SeeMILITARY AVIATION) during the SECOND WORLD WAR, William H.

Robert Drummond, labour leader (b at Greenock, Scot 9 Oct 1840; d at New Glasgow, NS 26 Dec 1925). Drummond helped organize one of Canada's first coal miners' unions, the Provincial Workmen's Association of Nova Scotia, in 1879 and was its grand secretary 1879-98.

After WWI the UFO became a political force, but Drury was not a candidate when it challenged the Conservative government in the Ontario general election of 1919. With the support of labour it won enough seats to form a government, and it called on Drury to lead it.

John Henry Dunn, officeholder, politician, businessman (baptized at St Helena 26 Feb 1792; d at London, Eng 21 Apr 1854).

The often astonishing Léolo is Québec director Jean-Claude Lauzon’s second and final feature film before his tragic death. A visually stunning, magical realist tale of a young boy’s coming-of-age in a wildly dysfunctional family, it won three Genie Awards and is generally considered one of the best Canadian films ever made. It was named the best film of 1992 by Maclean’s magazine and one of the top 10 films of 1993 by Time magazine, which also named it one of the 100 best films of all time in 2005. A 2015 poll conducted by the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) ranked it No. 5 in a list of the Top 10 Canadian films of all time, while another in 2016 listed the film as one of 150 essential works in Canadian cinema history.

Jacques Raudot, intendant of New France, 1705-11 (b 1638; d at Paris, France 20 Feb 1728). He was related to the powerful Pontchartrain family and had had a distinguished legal career when he and his son Antoine-Denis Raudot were jointly appointed to the intendancy (with only Jacques salaried).

Songwriters and Songwriting (English Canada) 1921-1954. Several Canadian songwriters who had enjoyed national and international success in the era prior to 1920 continued to produce hits after the introduction of commercial radio.

George London (b Burnstein). Bass-baritone, stage director, b Montreal 30 May 1920, of Russian-Jewish-US parents living in Montreal, d Armonk, near New York, 24 Mar 1985. He was registered at birth as a US citizen and moved with his parents to California when he was 15.

Certain dignitaries, explorers, and political and religious leaders have contributed to Canada's musical history through their own musical talents, as patrons of the arts or passively as dedicatees of Canadian compositions.