Search for "New France"

Robert England, teacher, railway administrator, civil servant (born 15 September 1894 in Portadown, Northern Ireland; died 14 June 1985 in Victoria, BC). England had a varied education and an even more varied career. However, his contributions to Canadian society were primarily in the fields of rural education, immigration and cultural pluralism, veterans’ rehabilitation and citizenship.

Pierre (Paul) Morin. Cellist, conductor, teacher, b Montreal 27 Nov 1936; performance diploma cello (École normale, Paris) 1963. He studied 1954-8 at the CMM with Yvette Lamontagne and won the Prix Archambault in 1957.

(Joseph) Rodolphe Mathieu. Composer, teacher, writer, pianist, b Grondines, near Quebec City, 10 Jul 1890, d Montreal 29 Jun 1962.

Frederick Kenneth Hare, environmental scientist, professor, administrator (b at Wylye, Eng 5 Feb 1919; d at Oakville, ON 3 Sept 2002).

Gaelyne Gabora (b Craig). Soprano, teacher, b Regina 1931, d White Rock, BC, 1 Feb 2001. She studied at Notre Dame Academy in Charlottetown, at the GSM, England, 1953-6, and graduated with honours from the Vienna Academy 1956-9.

(John) Otto Armin. Violinist, teacher, b Winnipeg 22 May 1943. He studied 1946-54 with his father, Jay, 1954-61 with Carl Chase in Detroit, 1962-4 with Josef Gingold at Indiana University, and 1967-70 with Lorand Fenyves in Toronto.

Pierre Jasmin. Pianist, teacher, b Montreal 11 Mar 1949; BA Philosophy (Caen) 1966, B MUS (McGill) 1970, L MUS (McGill) 1970, ARCM 1971, MMA (California) 1973, concert diploma (Vienna Academy) 1976, certificate (Moscow Conservatory) 1978.

(Marie) Andrée (Carmen) Desautels, CM, instrumentalist, musicologist, teacher (born 9 October 1923 in Montreal, QC). Andrée Desautels taught the history of music and musicology at the Connservatoire de musique du Quebec (CMM) from 1949 to 1988. She also taught at the Université de Montréal, the École Vincent-d’Indy, and the international Sessions of the Château d’Argenteuil in Brussels, Belgium, and is credited with introducing the ondes Martenot to Canada. She was also active in Youth and Music Canada (JMC) and was responsible for programming the organization’s performances at Expo 67. She was made a Member of the Order of Canada for being “the first Francophone to write about music in Canada” and for “pav[ing] the way for many researchers in this field.”

Robin (Lawrence) Wood. Pianist, teacher, b Victoria, BC, 13 Oct 1924, d there 28 Feb 2004; LRSM 1943, FRAM, honorary LL D (Victoria) 1978. He studied in Victoria with Stanley Shale and continued 1943-6 at Victoria College and the University of British Columbia.

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.

Stanley Vollant, CQ, Innu surgeon, professor and lecturer (born 2 April 1965 in Quebec City, Quebec). Vollant is the first Indigenous surgeon trained in Quebec. In 1996, he received a National Aboriginal Role Model Award from the Governor General of Canada. Vollant began Innu Meshkenu in 2010, a 6,000 km walk to promote the teachings of First Nations and to encourage Indigenous young people to pursue their dreams. In 2016, he founded the non-profit organization Puamun Meshkenu to inspire and support Indigenous peoples in their mental and physical health.

Marc Gagné. Composer, writer, ethnomusicologist, organist, teacher, b Saint-Joseph de Beauce, Que, 16 Dec 1939; D.èsL. (Laval) 1971.

Maryvonne Kendergi.

Marek Jablonski. Pianist, teacher, b Krakow, Poland, 5 Nov 1939, d Edmonton 8 May 1999. He studied at the Krakow Conservatory when he was six. His family settled in Edmonton in 1949, but it was in Calgary and Banff during the summers that he continued his piano studies with Gladys Egbert.

Talivaldis Kenins. Composer, teacher, pianist, organist, b Liepaja, Latvia, 23 Apr 1919, naturalized Canadian 1956, d Toronto 20 Jan 2008; B LITT (Champollion) 1939, premier prix (Paris Conservatory) 1950.

Guillaume (William) Couture. Teacher, conductor, choirmaster, composer, organist, baritone, critic, b Montreal 23 Oct 1851, d there 15 Jan 1915. He studied solfège in primary school and at 13 became choirmaster at the church of Ste-Brigide in his native parish.

William Alexander Blaikie, PC, OC, politician, United Church minister, professor (born 19 June 1951 in Winnipeg, MB; died 24 September 2022 in Winnipeg). Bill Blaikie was an ordained United Church minister and a proponent of social gospel politics. A major figure in the New Democratic Party (NDP), he served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 29 years. He sought the leadership of the federal NDP in 2003, placing second behind Jack Layton. After retiring from federal politics, he was elected to one term as a Manitoba MLA and served as minister of conservation. He was also an adjunct professor of theology and politics at the University of Winnipeg.

Daoust, Yves. Composer, teacher, b Longueuil, near Montreal 10 Apr 1946. Daoust began studies in piano at age seven, wrote a film soundtrack for "prepared" piano at 16, and at 19 completed his first electronic work, for a Berlin theatre.

Robert Verebes, violist, teacher (born 15 November 1934 in Budapest, Hungary; died 12 April 2016 in Montréal, QC). Robert Verebes’s performances exhibited sophisticated musicianship and impassioned playing. After earning his artist diploma at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, Verebes came to Canada and became a prominent member of the Montréal Symphony Orchestra for 40 years. He was also an acclaimed soloist and a founding member of the New Chamber Music Ensemble of Ottawa, the Musica Camerata Montréal and the Classical Quartet of Montréal. He taught chamber music at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal for 23 years and premiered several works commissioned for him, including Jean Coulthard’s Symphonic Ode and Lothar Klein’s Concerto Sacro.

Robert Harris, artist and teacher (born 18 September 1849 in Vale of Conway, Wales; died 27 February 1919 in Montréal, QC).