Article

Lucien Needham

Published Online June 17, 2007

Last Edited December 16, 2013

Lucien (Arthur) Needham. Conductor, teacher, administrator, pianist, b Kingston-upon-Hull, England, 5 Apr 1929, naturalized Canadian 1965; ARCM 1952, AGSM 1954, graduate diploma GSM 1954, honorary FGSM 1965.

Needham, Lucien

Lucien (Arthur) Needham. Conductor, teacher, administrator, pianist, b Kingston-upon-Hull, England, 5 Apr 1929, naturalized Canadian 1965; ARCM 1952, AGSM 1954, graduate diploma GSM 1954, honorary FGSM 1965. He studied 1945-52 in Hull and 1952-6 at the GSM, where he received the 1955 Carl Meyer Memorial Prize as the school's outstanding student. His courses at the GSM included summer sessions in conducting with Sir Adrian Boult, John Hopkins, and Maurice Miles. He held teaching, conducting, and church positions in Hull and London.

Needham emigrated to Canada to serve 1956-60 as conductor of the Winnipeg Philharmonic Choir and the Winnipeg Male Voice Choir. He was the conductor 1965-7 of the Western Manitoba Philharmonic Choir (which he founded), 1968-74 of the University of Lethbridge Choir, and 1970-6 of the Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra. As a pianist he has been heard on CBC radio, alone and in duo recitals with Francis Chaplin, Thomas Rolston, and others. He taught at the University of Manitoba 1958-60 and Brandon University 1959-67 before joining the music dept of the University of Lethbridge in 1967 and serving 1969-71 as its chairman. On retirement in 1987 he was named professor emeritus. He was an examiner 1956-84 for the WBM.

Needham has contributed articles to the Canadian Music Educator, the Music Scene, and the US periodicals Piano Quarterly and the Bulletin of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. His compositions include The Fields Abroad (1955, BMI Canada 1963), Christmas Gradual (1957, BMI Canada 1967), several choral arrangements of Christmas carols, and Canticle (1962) for mezzo-soprano.

Needham's first wife was the Winnipeg mezzo-soprano Nora McLean. His second wife, the pianist Louise Chapman (b Brandon, Man, 24 Feb 1938, d Victoria, BC, 3 Oct 1988), studied at Brandon University (BA 1958), at Indiana U with Willi Apel and Frederick Baldwin (M MUS 1962), and with Terence Beckles in Europe. She taught 1958-60 and 1962-7 at Brandon University and 1968-87 at the University of Lethbridge.