Ethel Stark, (25 August 1910 – 16 February 2012) was a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

violinist and conductor. Born in

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, she studied at the McGill Conservatory of Music with Alfred De Sève and Alfred Whitehead. From 1928 to 1934, she studied at the

Curtis Institute of Music The Curtis Institute of Music is a private conservatory in Philadelphia. It offers a performance diploma, a Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in opera, and a Professional Studies Certificate in opera. All students attend on a full scholarshi ...

with Lea Luboshutz, Louis Bailly,

Artur Rodziński Artur Rodziński (2 January 1892 – 27 November 1958) was a Polish and American conductor of orchestral music and opera. He began his career after World War I in Poland, where he was discovered by Leopold Stokowski, who invited him to be his ass ...

Fritz Reiner Frederick Martin Reiner (; December 19, 1888 – November 15, 1963) was an American conductor of opera and symphonic music in the twentieth century. Hungarian born and trained, he emigrated to the United States in 1922, where he rose to promine ...

and

Carl Flesch Carl Flesch (born Károly Flesch, 9 October 1873 – 14 November 1944) was a Hungarian classical violinist and teacher. Flesch’s compendium ''Scale System'' is a staple of violin pedagogy. Life and career Flesch was born in Moson (now part of ...

. She was the first Canadian to be accepted to that school. For many years she taught on the faculty of the

Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal The Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal (, CMQM) is a music conservatory located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In addition to the Montreal region, the school takes in students from nearby cities, including Granby, Joliette, St-Jean ...

. In 1979 she was made a Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

. In 2003 she was made a Grand Officer of the

National Order of Quebec The National Order of Quebec ( French: ), also known as the Order of Quebec, is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Quebec. Instituted in 1984 when Lieutenant Governor Jean-Pierre Côté granted royal assent to the (Natio ...

. In 1980 she was awarded a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa degree from

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

. She died in Montreal and was buried in Montreal's Spanish and Portuguese Congregation Cemetery. A park in Montreal has been named after her. Parc Ethel-Stark is located at the corner of Prince-Arthur Ouest and Clark streets.

Montreal Women's Symphony

In 1940, at the age of 29, Ethel founded the Montreal Women's Symphony Orchestra, which she conducted until 1960. She was the first conductor of an all women's symphony. The decision to form this orchestra was a spur of the moment decision that Stark made.Thivierge, Mark. "Ethel Stark, first woman symphony orchestra leader" (September 6, 1947) extual Record Elizabeth Long, Series: 4 : Biographies of Women. File 338. Doris Lewis Rare Book Room, University of Waterloo. The first performance of the Montreal Women's Symphony took place in the summer of 1940 to a crowd of 5,000 people. Critics raved that it was ingenious and that it “had broken away from conservative ideas about music and women in music."The Toronto Symphony “Pop” Concert was guest conducted by Ethel in February 1946. The performance was received warmly, and gaining recognition and popularity, the Montreal Women's Symphony signed a contract in autumn of 1947. Ethel was noted as feeling, “that the contract to play at Carnegie Hall is not so much to her and her musicians the answer to every artist’s hopes and ambitions as an acknowledgment that at last it is accepted that there’s room for women in music." David Gutnick of the

CBC Radio One CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent o ...

program The Sunday Edition produced a radio documentary about the Montreal Women's Symphony Orchestra in April 2012. You can hear the orchestra and interview segments with Ethel Stark and musicians Pearl Aronoff (Rosemarin), Lyse Vezina and Violet Grant States who was the first black woman in a Canadian symphony orchestra and the first black woman symphony musician to play Carnegie Hall. You also hear from musicologist Maria Noriega who wrote her master's thesis (University of Calgary) and is writing a doctoral dissertation on

women in classical music Women are active in all aspects of classical music, such as instrumental performance, vocal performance, orchestral conducting, choral conducting, scholarly research, and contemporary composition. However, proportionately to men, their representati ...

in Canada.

References

External links

Ethel Stark
at ''

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; ) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with financial support by the federal Department of Canadian Heritage and Society of Com ...

'' * http://www.cbc.ca/thesundayedition/documentaries/2012/04/29/it-wasnt-teatime/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Stark, Ethel 1910 births 2012 deaths Canadian women centenarians Academic staff of the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal Grand Officers of the National Order of Quebec Jewish Canadian musicians Members of the Order of Canada Musicians from Montreal 20th-century Canadian classical violinists Canadian women classical violinists Curtis Institute of Music alumni 20th-century Canadian women musicians 20th-century Canadian conductors (music) Canadian women conductors (music) 20th-century Canadian violinists and fiddlers Jewish centenarians