Phyllis Holtby

Holtby, Phyllis

Phyllis (Margaret) Holtby. Pianist, harpsichordist, teacher, b Winnipeg 10 Dec 1906, d 21 March 1993; ATCM 1930, LRSM 1932, LMM 1941. She studied in the 1930s with Bernard Naylor, Eva Clare and others in Winnipeg, Sigismond Stojowski and Ernest Hutcheson in New York, and Frank Mannheimer in Duluth, Minn. She also studied harpsichord with Father Clayton Barclay in Winnipeg. She appeared as soloist with the CBC Winnipeg Orchestra, the Duluth Symphony Orchestra, and the Grand Forks (ND) Symphony Orchestra and in 1958 performed Mendelssohn's Concerto in G Minor for a performance of Arnold Spohr's Ballet Premiere by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. She gave piano and, occasionally, harpsichord recitals in Winnipeg for the Women's Musical Club and the Wednesday Morning Musicale up to ca 1984, and performed on CBC radio. She was a guest lecturer on pedagogy at the University of North Dakota, for many years an examiner for the University of Manitoba, and in 1978 gave a series of piano workshops in Saskatchewan communities. She was president 1971-4 of the Manitoba Registered Music Teachers' Association (MRMTA), and a past president of the Wednesday Morning Musicale. In 1988 she was named Manitoba's Woman of the Year in the arts category by the YM-YWCA in Winnipeg. Her pupils included Scott Baker, Gerald Death, Thelma Harper, Peggy Kennedy, Kevin Kowal, Arlene Powell, Margaret Randell, Rupert Ross, Tom Stevenson (the first Canadian Native to receive the ARCT), and June Stinson. Holtby was an honorary life member of the MRMTA, and a recipient of the Canada 125 Medal.