Norma Abernethy

Abernethy, Norma

Norma (Kathleen) Abernethy. Pianist, teacher, b Vancouver 11 Jun 1914, d there 26 Apr 1973; LRSM 1931, ATCM 1933. A pupil in Vancouver of Della Johnston, Isabel Campbell, Gertrude Huntly Green, Olga Steel, and others, she was known particularly as an accompanist and soloist on radio, first on CNRV and then on CBR (later CBU). She was a soloist with the CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra, the CBR SO under Arthur Benjamin, other radio orchestras under Jean de Rimanoczy and Albert Steinberg, and also, in 1947, with the Victoria Symphony Orchestra. Among the concertos she performed were the Schann, the Armstrong Gibbs, and the Rapsodia Sinfonica of Turina. She was occasionally the orchestra pianist with the CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra (late 1930s to early 1940s) and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (ca 1940-7, ca 1952-64) and also performed as a duo-pianist with John Avison. She was an accompanist for the British Columbia Music Festival in the late 1930s and early 1940s, for TUTS (including productions requiring piano solos, eg, Song of Norway in 1953), and for visiting singers such as the English Duo (Viola Morris and Victoria Anderson) and Alexander Kipnis.