|
Ethel (Gertrude) Stark. Violinist, conductor, teacher, b Montreal 25 Aug 1916; lauréat (AMQ) 1927, diploma (Curtis) 1934, fellow (Royal Society of Arts) 1980, honorary LL D (Concordia) 1980. Ethel Stark took her first violin lessons from Alfred De Sève and then worked with Saul Brant at the McGill Conservatory as a winner of the MacDonald scholarship. At the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia she studied 1928-34 with Lea Luboshutz (violin), Louis Bailly (chamber music), and Artur Rodzinski and Fritz Reiner (conducting). She also studied violin with Carl Flesch.
In 1934 Stark became the first Canadian woman to perform as soloist in a program broadcast across the USA, playing the Tchaikovsky Concerto with the Curtis Symphony Orchestra under Fritz Reiner. She performed with the Montreal Orchestra (Bach's Concerto in A minor and Lalo's Symphonie espagnole, 1933), Les Concerts symphoniques de Montréal (Tchaikovsky's Concerto, 1936), the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the CBC Montreal orchestra (Mendelssohn's Concerto), and other orchestras. She premiered two works on CBC radio in 1946: Violet Archer's Sonata for Violin and Pianoforte (which is dedicated to Stark) with the composer at the piano; and Hugh Poynter Bell's Sonata with John Newmark at the piano. In 1940 Ethel Stark founded the Montreal Women's Symphony Orchestra, the first Canadian orchestra composed exclusively of women; she conducted it until the late 1960s. She was also the founding director of the New York Women's Chamber Orchestra in 1938, the Ethel Stark Symphonietta in 1954, and the Montreal Women's Symphony Strings 1954-68. She was a guest conductor with the Toronto Symphony in 1946, the Quebec Symphony Orchestra in 1950, the Miami Symphony Orchestra in 1957, 1958, and 1962, the Kol-Israel of Jerusalem in 1952 and 1962, and the Tokyo Asahi and Nippon Hoso Kyokai in 1960, as well as the CBC Montreal orchestra on several occasions. On a Canada Council grant she went to Europe in 1962 to research violin methodology. As violinist or conductor she took part in an estimated 300 or more radio programs in Canada, the USA, and Europe. Stark taught in 1951 at the Catholic University of Washington, 1952-63 at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal, and 1974-5 at Concordia University. In 1976 she received the award given each year by the Concert Society of the Jewish People's Schools and Peretz Schools to an outstanding Canadian artistic personality. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 1979 and of the Order of Quebec in 2003, and received the Canada 125 medal in 1992. Stark's archives are held at the Library and Archives Canada.
Author
Cécile Huot
Bibliography
Fitzgerald, John. 'Plaudits abroad don't help the conductor at home,' Montreal Gazette, 28 Apr 1976 Zadrozny, Ilse. "Stark led our first female orchestra," Montreal Gazette, 4 Nov 1995 Creative Canada, vol 2 Musiciennes de chez nous
Links to Other Sites
Ethel Stark
This website honours Ethel Stark and other exemplary women who have contributed to Canada’s cultural scene. Part of the "Celebrating Women's Achievements" series from Library and Archives Canada. Includes an excerpt of a performance of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra conducted by Ethel Stark.
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| On Monday August 29, 1864 half the cabinet of the Canadian government boarded the
steamer Queen Victoria at Quebec. They had heard that representatives of Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick and PEI were meeting in Charlottetown to discuss Maritime union and they hoped to
crash the party... |
|
| Pierre Elliott Trudeau, politician, writer, constitutional lawyer, prime minister of Canada 1968-79 and 1980-84 (b at ... |
|
|
| Few countries were affected as severely as Canada by the worldwide Depression of the 1930s. It is estimated that ... |
|
|
| Louis Riel, Métis leader, founder of Manitoba, central figure in the NORTH-WEST REBELLION (b at Red River ... |
|
|
| Evangelical Christian Church, often called the Christian Church (Christian Disciples), is a denomination stemming from ... |
|
|
| Few countries were affected as severely as Canada by the worldwide Depression of the 1930s. It is estimated that ... |
|
|
| The Toronto Maple Leafs are a HOCKEY team, was formed in 1927 when Conn SMYTHE purchased and renamed the Toronto St ... |
|
|
| Sears Canada Inc, headquartered in Toronto, is a Canadian retailer incorporated in 1952. In 1953 operating under the ... |
|
|
| John Ware, "Nigger John," horseman, rancher (b near Georgetown, SC 1845; d near Brooks, Alta 11 Sept 1905). ... |
|
|
| Land claims are dealt with by a process established by the federal government to enable INDIANS, INUIT and ... |
|
Browse the rich visual resources of The Canadian Encyclopedia through thematic galleries of Canadian Art, History, Nature, People, and Science and Technology.
Illustrations, lively text, animations, sounds and games help make learning about Canadian history, art, geography, architecture and other topics entertaining as well as informative.
The ultimate test of your knowledge of Canada, trivial and otherwise. You can choose from more than 60 dynamic quizzes with visual or text clues. Your scores depend on the speed with which you answer and the number of clues you need. Results are sent to you by email and high scores are posted on the site.
This unique resource includes more than 6000 events from Canadian and world history. It can be searched by era, subject, keyword or date. To find out what happened on your birthday, select the month and day of your birth.
This selection of the 100 "greatest" events in Canadian history was made by editor in chief James H. Marsh to draw attention to events that have left an indelible memory in the minds of later generations.
| THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MUSIC IN CANADA |
|
| Charles-Amador Martin. Priest, musician, b Quebec City 7 Mar 1648, d Ste-Foy, near Quebec City, 19 Jun 1711. He was the son of Abraham Martin (whose name is perpetuated in the Plains of Abraham), was a pupil of Martin Boutet at ... |
|
|
