Dwight Bennett

Bennett, Dwight

(Alfred) Dwight Bennett. Conductor, teacher, b Peterborough, Ont, 28 Dec 1945; ARCT piano 1967, B MUS (Toronto) 1968, M MUS music education (Toronto) 1969. He was raised in Campbellford, Ont, studied conducting and music education at the University of Toronto, and did doctoral work in conducting at Indiana U. His teachers have included Karel Ančerl, Victor Feldbrill, and Andrew Davis in Toronto, and Kiril Kondrashin, Franco Ferrara, and Bernard Haitink in Europe. He won the Heinz Unger Award for conductors in 1973. Bennett was conductor 1974-89 of the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, which under his leadership expanded in scope and ambition, mounted staged performances of opera, and moved into the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium. In addition Bennett conducted the Thunder Bay Symphony Youth Orchestra, formed and conducted the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra Chorus, was founding music director of the Thunder Bay Summer Music Camp, and was director of music 1974-80 at Lakehead University, where he continued teaching until 1988. Bennett became music director in 1986 of the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, which improved in size and quality under his leadership, but he resigned in 1990 when financial difficulties forced the orchestra to scale down its operations. As a guest conductor Bennett has appeared with the CBC Vancouver Orchestra, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, and other orchestras across Canada, and has led COC touring performances of La Bohème, The Marriage of Figaro, and La Cenerentola.

See also Discography for CBC Vancouver Orchestra.