Louis Applebaum (April 3, 1918April 19, 2000) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) 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 ...

film score composer, administrator, and

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

Early life

He was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, and studied at the Toronto Conservatory of Music with Leo Smith and the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institu ...

with Boris Berlin,

Healey Willan James Healey Willan (12 October 1880 – 16 February 1968) was an Anglo-Canadian organist and composer. He composed more than 800 works including operas, symphonies, chamber music, a concerto, and pieces for band, orchestra, organ, and pia ...

and Ernest MacMillan. He also studied composition privately in New York.

Film composition

Applebaum composed approximately 250 film scores for the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...

(NFB) between 1942 and 1960, serving as its music director from 1942 to 1948, then as a consultant from 1949 to 1953. His NFB credits include '' Royal Journey'' (1951), '' The Stratford Adventure'' (1954) and ''

Paddle to the Sea ''Paddle to the Sea'' (French: ''Vogue-à-la-mer'') is a 1966 National Film Board of Canada short live-action film directed, shot and edited by Bill Mason, based on the 1941 children's book '' Paddle-to-the-Sea'' by American author and illustrator ...

'' (1966). He was nominated, along with co-composer Ann Ronell, for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment in ...

for the score of the 1945 war film, '' The Story of G.I. Joe''. He won a 1968 Canadian Film Award for his non-feature music score of ''Athabasca''. He won a 1989

Gemini Award The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United State ...

in the category Best Original Music Score for a Program or Mini-Series for '' Glory Enough for All''.

Other work

He was the first music director of the

Stratford Festival The Stratford Festival is a theatre festival which runs from April to October in the city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Founded by local journalist Tom Patterson in 1952, the festival was formerly known as the Stratford Shakespearean Festival ...

and in 1955 established the

Stratford Music Festival Stratford may refer to: Places Australia * Stratford, Queensland, a suburb of Cairns * Stratford, Victoria, a town in the state district of Gippsland East ** Stratford railway station, Victoria, a railway station on the Bairnsdale railway line in ...

as an offshoot of the then two-year-old theatre festival. He resigned from his administrative duties at Stratford in 1960 though he continued until 1999 to provide incidental music for festival productions. He was composer, music director or sound designer for 70 productions over 46 years. His fanfares have been played prior to every performance at Stratford's main stage since 1953. After resigning from Stratford in 1960, he served as president of Group Four Productions, a documentary and television production company, until 1966. He was a music consultant from 1960 to 1963 for

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French- ...

, chairman of the music, opera and ballet advisory committee for the National Arts Centre from 1963 to 1966, and wrote a 1965 government-commissioned report which led to the formation of the

National Arts Centre Orchestra The National Arts Centre Orchestra (NAC Orchestra) is a Canadian orchestra based in Ottawa, Ontario led by music director Alexander Shelley. The NAC Orchestra's primary concert venue is Southam Hall at the National Arts Centre. Since its incept ...

, as well as a plan for the establishment of a department of music at the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottaw ...

. He served as chairman of a Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada (CAPAC)/ Canadian Association of Broadcasters committee for the promotion of Canadian music from 1965 to 1970, and was in charge of member relations for CAPAC (1968–1971) and served on its board. He served on an advisory arts panel and was a jury member for the

Canada Council The Canada Council for the Arts (french: Conseil des arts du Canada), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It acts as the federal government's principal in ...

from 1970 to 1971 and was a consultant for the

St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts The St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts is a performing arts theatre complex located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Situated on Front Street one block east of Yonge Street, it was the City of Toronto's official centennial project, commemorat ...

from 1968 to 70. He was executive director of the

Ontario Arts Council The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) is a publicly-funded Canadian organization in the province of Ontario whose purpose is to foster the creation and production of art for the benefit of all Ontarians. Based in Toronto, OAC was founded in 1963 by O ...

from 1971 to 1980. Working on behalf of the Government of Canada as chairman of the Federal Cultural Policy Review Committee, he co-authored with

Jacques Hébert Jacques René Hébert (; 15 November 1757 – 24 March 1794) was a French journalist and the founder and editor of the extreme radical newspaper ''Le Père Duchesne'' during the French Revolution. Hébert was a leader of the French Revolution ...

the influential Applebaum-Hébert Report, the first review of Canadian cultural institutions and federal cultural policy since 1951. He also served as vice-president of the Canadian League of Composers.

Honours

In 1976 he was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the c ...

. Applebaum was appointed to the Order of Ontario in 1989. He was appointed to the Companion of the Order of Canada 15 November 1995. In 1997, Applebaum was awarded the inaugural Special Achievement Award at the

SOCAN The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is a Canadian performance rights organization that represents the performing rights of more than 135,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. The organization collect ...

Awards in Toronto. In 1998, the

Ontario Arts Foundation The Ontario Arts Foundation is a non-governmental not for profit organization established in 1991 under the Ontario Corporations Act to encourage and facilitate private giving to the arts in Ontario, Canada. The group is distinct from the Onta ...

established the Louis Applebaum Composers Award. Originally created to honour excellence in music composition for theatre, music theatre, dance or opera, it is presented to recognize "excellence in a body of work by an artist in the field of music composition for film and television."

References

External links

*
Louis Applebaum
at The Canadian Music Centre
Louis Applebaum
at the