Browse "Women"

May Lawson. Contralto, teacher, b West Calder, Scotland, 29 Mar 1901, d Winnipeg 28 Apr 1965. She arrived in Canada in 1914 with her parents and studied singing in Winnipeg with W. Davidson Thomson, Rhys Thomas, and Bernard Naylor and in Toronto with J. Campbell McInnes.

Molly (Mary Lindsay) Sclater. Teacher, author, organist-choirmaster, b Edinburgh 28 Dec 1912; ATCM 1938, ACCO ca 1938, B MUS (Toronto) 1939. Her family settled in Toronto in 1923.

Myrtle Guerrero (b Rose, later m Knox-Leet). Educator, b North Battleford, Sask, 5 Aug 1906, d Oakville, Ont, 11 Aug 1995; ATCM 1939. After private studies 1917-28 in Lethbridge, Alta, she continued her training 1928-32 at the TCM, where her piano teachers were Peter C. Kennedy and Alberto Guerrero.

Nancy Ellen Telfer, née Linsey, composer, choral clinician, teacher (b at Brampton, Ont 8 May 1950).

Nancy (Fraser) Vogan. Educator. b Moncton, NB, 22 Mar 1945; BA music (Mount Allison) 1967, M MUS music education (ESM) 1969, PH D music education (ESM) 1979.

Natalie (Olga) Kuzmich (b Belz). Educator, producer, adjudicator, b Toronto 22 May 1932; B MUS music education (Toronto) 1954, MA musicology (Toronto) 1968.

Nicole Labelle. Musicologist, teacher, pianist, organist, b Montreal 2 Jun 1946; B MUS (Montreal) 1967, M MUS (Montreal) 1970, premier prix history (CMM) 1973, D MUS (Sorbonne) 1978.

Odette de Foras. Soprano, teacher, b Savoie, France, ca 1895, d Calgary 31 Dec 1976 or 1 Jan 1977. She spent her youth in Paris and at the Château de Thuyset, near Lake Geneva. With her family, she settled ca 1903 in High River, south of Calgary.

Ogreta McNeill (b Ormiston). Librarian, teacher, b Gabarus, Cape Breton Island, NS, 2 Aug 1903, d East York, Ont, 21 Apr 1993; ATCM 1932, B MUS (Toronto) 1952, BLS (Toronto) 1953. She was raised in Victoria, BC, where she studied and taught piano. The young John Beckwith was one of her pupils.

Pierrette (Marie Ethel Claudette) Lepage. Pianist, teacher, b Montreal 25 May 1939; B MUS (Laval) 1952, Artist Diploma (Toronto) 1959, BA (Toronto) 1960.

Maria Rika Maniates. Musicologist, born Toronto 30 Mar 1937, died there 20 Oct 2011; ARCT 1958, BA (Toronto) 1960, MA (Columbia) 1962, PH D (Columbia) 1965.

Rosabelle Jones (b Smith). Pianist, harpsichordist, librettist, teacher, b Truro, NS, 26 Jul 1922, d Dec 1995; Licentiate (Mount Allison Conservatory) 1942, B MUS (Mount Allison) 1946. Rosabelle Jones was a pupil of Max Pirani in Toronto in 1947 and Yvonne Lefebure in Paris in 1949.

Rosette (Rose Madelaine) Renshaw. Teacher, ethnomusicologist, translator, born Montreal 4 May 1920, died New Paltz, NY, 13 Mar 1997; BA (McGill) 1942, B MUS (Toronto) 1944, D MUS (Toronto) 1949. She attended the École Vincent-d'Indy 1936-8 and studied with Alfred Whitehead and Claude Champagne.

Sarah Davidson. Harpist, teacher, b Toronto 5 Dec 1958. A pupil of Judy Loman (harp) and Bonnie Silver (music theory) in her teens, Sarah Davidson first appeared as guest soloist with the Toronto Symphony at age 14, returning at 18.

Sarah Fischer, soprano, teacher (b at Paris, France 23 Feb 1896; Canadian citizen 1912; d at Montréal 3 May 1975).

After a leave-taking recital, Fischer left for London to complete her training at the RCM 1919-22 with Cecilia M. Hutchinson.

Simone Quesnel. Contralto, teacher, b Pointe-au-Chêne, Que, 19 Mar 1911, d Montreal 5 Dec 1987. She studied with Céline Marier and in 1931 gave a recital at the Delphic Study Club, which gave her a grant.

Sister Marie-Stéphane (b Hélène Côté). Teacher, composer, b St-Barthélémy, Que, 9 Jan 1888, d Montreal 9 Aug 1985; D MUS (Montreal) 1936. She began musical studies at five with her elder sister and continued them in her parish convent.

Snjolaug (Anna) Sigurdson. Pianist, teacher, b Arborg, north of Winnipeg, 5 Nov 1914, d Winnipeg 22 Aug 1979; ATCM 1932, LRSM 1933, LMM 1936. She studied with Eva Clare in Winnipeg, and then with Ernest Hutcheson and Muriel Kerr in New York.

Sonja Behrens (née Peterson), pianist, teacher (born 13 April 1938 in Medford, Oregon; died 24 February 2012 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania). B MUS (Willamette), M SC (Juilliard) 1962, PhD (Boston).