Browse "Arts & Culture"

Adrienne Labelle. Soprano, teacher, b Montreal, fl 1904-10. She studied voice with her father, Charles, and Céline Marier and piano with Alexis Contant and Émery Lavigne. She completed her voice studies in 1903 with Auguste-Jean Dubulle in Paris.

Adrienne ('Yohadio') Roy-Vilandré (b Roy, m Vilandré). Soprano, folklorist, b Lévis, near Quebec City, Que, 13 Feb 1893, d Montreal 23 Oct 1978. After taking voice lessons in Quebec City with Isa Jeynevald-Mercier, Victor Occelier, and Berthe Roy she made her debut at the Club musical de Québec.

Afua (Ava Pamela) Cooper, educator, historian, performance artist, poet (born 8 November 1957 in the Whithorn district of Westmoreland, Jamaica), is considered one of the most influential and pioneering voices in the Canadian dub poetry and spoken word movement. Her poems are published in numerous regional, national and international journals and anthologies. Afua Cooper also has CDs of her performances that make her work well known to the global community. In addition to her renown as a performance artist, she is an internationally-ranked historian. She has taught Caribbean cultural studies, history, women's studies and Black studies at Ryerson and York universities, at the University of Toronto and at Dalhousie University.

AGLAÉ (b Jocelyne Deslongchamps). Singer, actress, b L'Épiphanie, near Montreal, 13 May 1933, d Montreal 19 Apr 1984. She began her career at 16 in Montreal nightclubs (eg, the Au Faisan doré) under the name Josette France.

Agnes Butcher. Pianist, teacher, b Edmonton 11 Apr 1915; ATCM piano1930, LTCM piano 1936. She began piano studies in Brockville, Ont in 1920, moved to Hamilton in 1924 and studied with W.H. Hewlett, then continued in Toronto in 1934 with Viggo Kihl and Charles Peaker.

Agnès Grossmann, orchestra and choir conductor (b at Vienna 24 Apr 1944). After studies in piano performance at the Vienna Academy (1968), Grossmann embarked on a career as a soloist in Europe and Japan.

Agnes Grossmann. Orchestral and choral conductor, pianist, b Vienna, 24 April 1944; piano performance diploma (Vienna Academy) 1968, honorary D HUM L (Mount St Vincent) 1991, honorary D Univ (Ottawa) 2004.

Agnes Maule Machar, novelist, poet, historian (b at Kingston, Ont 23 Jan 1837; d there 24 Jan 1927). An important reformist and literary figure in Victorian Canada, she was a prolific writer who published poetry, several novels and volumes of history and biography.

Agnes Nanogak, graphic artist (b on Baillie Island, NWT 12 Nov 1925, d at Holman [Ulukhaktok], Northwest Territories 5 May 2005).

The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated. Brainy poetic iconoclast, mischievous punk and cultural court jester, Gord Downie flipped the script of Canadian identity and took us on a quest to discover ourselves.

William (John) Aide. Pianist, teacher, writer, b Timmins, Ont, 27 Mar 1938; LRCT 1959, Artist Diploma (Toronto) 1959, B SC music (Juilliard) 1962.

Aiko Suzuki, fibre artist (b at Vancouver 1937; d there 31 Dec 2005). Although not a weaver or tapestry designer in the traditional sense, she was one of a number of Canadian artists who have used fibres and textile techniques as a medium for expressing abstract concepts.

At age three she began studying violin with Vivian Pritchard at a community music school in Nanaimo. She then continued at the Nanaimo Conservatory for ten years with Heilwig von Königslöw, whom she credits with inspiring her to pursue a life in music.

Aiyyana Maracle, multidisciplinary Haudenosaunee artist, performer, storyteller and educator (born 25 November 1950 on Six Nations of the Grand River, ON; died there, 24 April 2016). An Indigenous transgender woman, Maracle created art that focused on the decolonization of gender. Her work received critical acclaim and was widely inspirational. She is believed to have been the first Indigenous woman to have received the John Hirsch Prize. This is a prestigious national award for emerging directors in Canadian theatre.

Akeeaktashuk, sea hunter, sculptor, storyteller (b at Hudson Bay, near Inukjuak River, Qué 1898; d at Craig Harbour, NWT 1954). Akeeaktashuk was a jolly, robust and outgoing man with an astonishing talent for observing and keenly portraying humans, animals and birds in stone and ivory.