Eva Rose York

One of Canada's early women composers, she attended Woodstock College and studied 1881-2 at the New England Cons. She lived ca 1885 in Belleville, Ont, and formed a Philharmonic Society which performed her oratorio, David and Jonathan, 11 Jan and 30 May 1887. At the second concert her Meditation in G was performed by the orchestra. In 1887 she left for Iowa. (The Philharmonic Society continued under the direction of W.H. Donley.) By 1890 she had moved to Toronto and was editor of the Musical Journal, organist at Grace (Anglican) Church, and a piano, voice, harmony, and English teacher. After the demise of the Musical Journal she continued to teach until ca 1893 and was founder and superintendent ca 1901-13 of Redemption House in Toronto. Little is known of her life after 1913. She published The White Letter, a Tale of Retribution and Reward in 1903 (2nd ed); Feathers with Yellow Gold, the story of Redemption House, in 1920; and a number of short stories. In 1935, a brief, unrevealing autobiography, When My Dream Came True, was published in Toronto.