Article

Teo Repel

Published Online August 8, 2007

Last Edited December 16, 2013

Teo (Teofil) Repel. Teacher, choral conductor, b near Krakow, Poland, 30 Jan 1916, naturalized Canadian 1953. BA (Krakow) 1939, B ED (British Columbia) 1968. Repel studied with B. Wallek Walewski, director of the Krakow Cons.

Repel, Teo

Teo (Teofil) Repel. Teacher, choral conductor, b near Krakow, Poland, 30 Jan 1916, naturalized Canadian 1953. BA (Krakow) 1939, B ED (British Columbia) 1968. Repel studied with B. Wallek Walewski, director of the Krakow Cons. In 1939, at the outbreak of World War II, he escaped to France and then in 1940 to England.

In 1948 Repel emigrated to Canada, settling in Vancouver. He took normal school training in 1950 and attended the University of British Columbia from 1950 to ca 1961. Concurrently with his studies he taught music in the Vancouver school system, first at Strathcona Elementary School (1950-5) and then at John Oliver High School (1955-80). In addition to his teaching duties, he conducted school orchestras and choirs, and had particular success with the John Oliver Choir and the Brahms Choir (the latter until 1984) in festivals, CBC competitions, and tours (eg, to the United Kingdom in 1972). He appeared on a number of CBC radio broadcasts as a choral conductor and wrote some arrangements of songs for choir. Repel has had a significant impact on choral training and performance in Vancouver.