Clifford Hunt

Hunt, Clifford

Clifford (Onufry) Hunt. Administrator, trumpeter, band conductor, b Hamilton, Ont, 20 Jul 1917, d Burlington, Ont, 13 Jan 2003. He began trumpet lessons at seven when he joined his father's Salvation Army band, and studied piano with Graham Godfrey. He toured North America, Great Britain, and continental Europe as a solo trumpeter and was a soloist 1940-2 with the RCAF Band. He was music director 1942-3 for the Camp Borden Band and was sent overseas in 1944 when that organization became the Canadian Bomber Group Band, travelling from quarters at Harrogate to give concerts and assist at ceremonies in England. He was music director of the regular Air Force Band 1946-60 and supervisor of music for all Canadian air force bands 1960-4. From 1964, when the headquarters and commands of the Canadian armed forces were integrated, until 1968, when the unification of the three services was completed, Hunt supervised 220 bands, comprising 1000 full-time musicians and some 5000 reserve-force volunteers. He was made a lieutenant-colonel in 1966. Hunt directed the RCAF Concert Band on the recording Top Brass (Radio-Canada International 256).

Hunt conducted the Ottawa Civic Symphony Orchestra in 1965. On his retirement from the armed forces in 1968 he became manager of the music department of the CNE and music director of the senior program (adult recreation) for the city of Burlington. In 1969 he became director of grandstand shows at the CNE, continuing on a part-time basis after his retirement in 1982. Also in 1969 he became managing director of the Canadian Bureau for the Advancement of Music. In 1974 he was an adjudicator for the International Music Festival in Vienna. He was executive director 1973-8 of the Kiwanis Music Festival. Hunt served 1954-5 and 1959-61 as president of the CBA, 1971-2 as president of the American Bandmasters Association, and in 1973 as vice-president and 1977-8 as president of the FCMF. Between 1980 and 1988 he conducted a band composed of Canadian and US high-school students on six tours of Europe and the USA, and in 1990 he received the Sudler Medal of the Order of Merit from the Sousa Foundation of Chicago in recognition of his outstanding contribution to bands and band music. Hunt conducted the Burlington Concert Band until 1998. He held the CBA's National Band Award (1994), and was an honorary life member of that organization. He was also a recipient of the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal.

See also Bands: Regular armed forces.