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Rolande Dion

(Marie Berthe) Rolande Dion. Soprano, teacher, b Quebec City 5 Apr 1915, d there 19 Nov 1980. She studied singing in her native city 1931-5 with Émile Larochelle and 1935-9 with Louis Gravel.

Dion, Rolande

(Marie Berthe) Rolande Dion. Soprano, teacher, b Quebec City 5 Apr 1915, d there 19 Nov 1980. She studied singing in her native city 1931-5 with Émile Larochelle and 1935-9 with Louis Gravel. In 1939, on a bursary from the Quebec government, she went to New York and worked in succession with Margaret Hamill, with the rehearsal pianist Franz Rupp and his wife Stéphanie, with Greta Stauber, and with the coach Erich Itor Kahn. On her return to Quebec City in 1950 she concentrated on teaching at her studio and performing for CBC radio and TV. In 1961 on a Canada Council grant she spent six months in Europe attending voice-training programs. In 1972 she began teaching at the Cons de Chicoutimi and at the CMQ. Guy Bélanger, France Dion, and Geneviève Perreault are among her pupils.