Geoffrey Waddington (September 23, 1904,

Leicester, England Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

- January 3, 1966, Toronto) was a Canadian

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

and

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist. Waddington was raised in

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, where he began playing violin as a child; he was conducting by the time he was twelve years old. In 1922, he began working in radio and also took a position at the

Toronto Conservatory of Music The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM; ), branded as The Royal Conservatory, is a non-profit music education institution and performance venue headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1886 by Edward Fisher (musician), Edwar ...

. In 1947 he began conducting for the

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

, eventually becoming its music director. In 1952 he founded the

CBC Symphony Orchestra The CBC Symphony Orchestra (; CBCSO/OSSRC) was a radio orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation during the 1950s and 1960s. History The CBCSO was founded in 1952, and gave its first bro ...

, which he directed until it folded in 1964, by which time it was the last surviving network-broadcasting symphonic orchestra in North America. His position at CBC made him influential in identifying and popularizing Canadian classical musicians of distinction, and he commissioned several works from Canadian composers."Geoffrey Waddington"
The Canadian Encyclopedia.

References

Canadian conductors (music) Canadian male conductors (music) Canadian classical violinists 1904 births 1966 deaths 20th-century Canadian male musicians 20th-century Canadian violinists and fiddlers Canadian male violinists and fiddlers British emigrants to Canada {{Canada-composer-stub