Reginald Stewart (20 April 1900 in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

– 8 July 1984 in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

) was a Scottish conductor, pianist, and music educator who was chiefly active in the United States and Canada.

Life and career

He was Born with in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, Stewart began his musical studies in his native city with H.T. Collinson, the choirmaster at St Mary's Cathedral. He then pursued studies with Arthur Friedheim and Mark Hambourg in Toronto, Canada, and with

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher, conductor and composer. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organis ...

and

Isidor Philipp Isidor Edmond Philipp (first name sometimes spelled Isidore) (2 September 1863 – 20 February 1958) was a French pianist, composer, and pedagogue of Jewish Hungarian descent. He was born in Budapest and died in Paris. Biography Isidor Philipp ...

in Paris. In the 1920s, Stewart was musical director at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

's Hart House. During this period, he was hired by the ''

Toronto Daily Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands division. The newspaper was establis ...

''′s radio station, CFCA, to create and lead Canada's first

radio orchestra A radio orchestra (or broadcast orchestra) is an orchestra employed by a radio network (and sometimes television networks) in order to provide programming as well as sometimes perform incidental or theme music for various shows on the network. In ...

, consisting of 50 musicians, for the station's regular dance program, ''Hour of Good Music''. Stewart is best remembered as the conductor of the

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore SO has its principal residence at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, where it performs more than 130 concerts a year. In 2005, ...

(1942-1952) and the head of the

Peabody Conservatory The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University is a private music and dance conservatory and preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1857, it became affiliated with Johns Hopkins in 1977. History Philanthropist and ...

(1941-1958). In 1933 he founded the Toronto Bach Choir and in 1934 he founded the Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra. Stewart resigned from his conducting posts with both ensembles after accepting a position with Peabody in 1941. In 1962 Stewart became an artist-in-residence at the

Music Academy of the West The Music Academy of the West is a summer classical music training program in Montecito, California, and festival with performances in the County of Santa Barbara. Overview The academy annually enrolls 136 pre-professional musicians in their ...

in Montecito, California where he ultimately became chair of the piano department. He remained in Santa Barbara until his death at the age of 84 in July 1984.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stewart, Reginald 1900 births 1984 deaths American male conductors (music) Peabody Institute faculty Music Academy of the West faculty 20th-century American conductors (music) 20th-century American male musicians Music directors of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra