Ethel Stark, (25 August 1910 – 16 February 2012) was a Canadian violinist and conductor. Born in Montreal, Quebec, she studied at the

McGill Conservatory The Schulich School of Music (also known as Schulich) is one of the constituent faculties of McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 555, rue Sherbrooke Ouest (555, Sherbrooke Street West). The faculty was named after benef ...

of Music with Alfred De Sève and

Alfred Whitehead Alfred Ernest Whitehead (10 July 1887 – 1 April 1974) was an English-born Canadian composer, organist, choirmaster, music educator, painter, whose works are held in a number of important private collections, and an internationally recogniz ...

. 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, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in opera, and a Professional Studies Certificate in opera. All students attend on full scholarship. Hi ...

with

Lea Luboshutz Lea Luboshutz (February 22, 1885 – March 18, 1965) was a Russian violinist. She had a performing career in Europe and the United States of America, settling in America and becoming a teacher at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia ...

Louis Bailly Louis Bailly was a French-Canadian violist and music educator. He was born on 18 June 1882 in Valenciennes, France and died on 21 November 1974 in Cowansville, Quebec. Biography Bailly studied violin and viola at the Conservatoire de Paris un ...

, Artur Rodziński, Fritz Reiner and Carl Flesch. 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. In 1979 she was made a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2003 she was made a Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec. In 1980 she was awarded a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa degree from

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

. 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 The Montreal Women's Symphony Orchestra (MWSO) (French: Symphonie féminine de Montréal) founded in Montreal, Quebec, Canada was started in 1940 and ending in 1965. It was the first women's symphony orchestra in Canada. n earlier women's symphon ...

, 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 program The Sunday Edition produced a radio documentary about the

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 in Canada.

References

External links

Ethel Stark
at '' The Canadian Encyclopedia'' * http://www.cbc.ca/thesundayedition/documentaries/2012/04/29/it-wasnt-teatime/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Stark, Ethel 1910 births 2012 deaths Canadian centenarians Canadian classical violinists 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 classical violinists Women classical violinists Curtis Institute of Music alumni 20th-century Canadian women musicians 20th-century Canadian conductors (music) Women centenarians Canadian women conductors (music) 20th-century Canadian violinists and fiddlers Jewish centenarians