Marcelle Martin

Marcelle Martin, organist, pianist, teacher (born 19 August 1917 in Montréal, QC; died 3 November 2014 in Montréal). The product of a musical family, Marcelle Martin was a prominent, award-winning organist. She played with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, the CBC and at many churches in the Montréal area, and also taught at the Université de Montréal and the Conservatoire de musique du Québec.

Education and Early Career

Martin studied piano with her father, Alphonse, her sister Gilberte and Arthur Letondal, and also studied theory and organ with Georges-Émile Tanguay. In 1941, she graduated with an organ diploma from the Académie de musique du Québec and won the Prix d'Europe for organ. She then pursued her organ studies with Joseph Bonnet and Gaston Dethier at the Juilliard School in New York (1941–45). While in New York she was organist at St-Vincent-de-Paul Church.

Career Highlights

After her return to Montreal, the Bureau des concerts canadiens and the impresario Georges-Armand Robert presented her in public concerts. She performed in the Casavant Society series and gave a recital at St-Viateur Church in Outremont, where she resumed the post of organist, which she had held in 1938 while still a student. In 1953, she became organist at St-Joseph Church in Mount Royal.

She was a soloist with the CBC and performed with the Montreal Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, notably in Saint-Saëns' Symphony No. 3 conducted by Zubin Mehta. She also played the Poulenc Concerto with the Ethel Stark Symphonietta. She taught at St-Laurent and Ste-Thérèse colleges (1949–54), at the Université de Montréal (1967), at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec (1970–76), and at the Conservatoire de Rimouski (1975–76). She married the conductor Fernand Graton.

See also: Magdeleine Martin and Raymonde Martin (her sisters).

A version of this entry originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada.