Ettore Mazzoleni (18 June 1905 – 1 June 1968) was a Canadian conductor, music educator, writer, and arts administrator of Swiss birth. He was one of the Canadian Opera Company's principal conductors during its early years, working there from 1958 to 1968. For many years he was the program annotator of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) and also served as the orchestra's associate conductor from 1942–1948. He became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1949. Born to Swiss-Italian parents in Brusio,

Ticino Ticino (), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino,, informally ''Canton Ticino'' ; lmo, Canton Tesin ; german: Kanton Tessin ; french: Canton du Tessin ; rm, Chantun dal Tessin . ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, Mazzoleni earned a

Bachelor of Music Bachelor of Music (BM or BMus) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree, and the majority of work consists of prescr ...

and a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics from the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

in 1927. He went on to study piano at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

while simultaneously working on the school's opera staff from 1927–1929. While there he had the opportunity to work closely with

Sir Adrian Boult Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, Order of the Companions of Honour, CH (; 8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, wi ...

and

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

. In 1929 Mazzoleni immigrated to Canada to join the music and English faculties of the

Upper Canada College Upper Canada College (UCC) is an elite, all-boys, private school in Toronto, Ontario, operating under the International Baccalaureate program. The college is widely described as the country's most prestigious preparatory school, and has produce ...

, where he remained until 1945. He also frequently worked as a consultant for the opera program at the Toronto Conservatory of Music (TCM), beginning with the school's 1929 production of Vaughan Williams's ''

Hugh the Drover ''Hugh the Drover'' (or ''Love in the Stocks'') is an opera in two acts by Ralph Vaughan Williams to an original English libretto by Harold Child. The work has set numbers with recitatives. It has been described as a modern example of a ballad ...

''. In 1932 he joined the TCM's music faculty where he taught music history and conducting. He later succeeded Donald Heins as the director of the TCM's symphony orchestra in 1934. While still teaching at the TCM, Mazzoleni was appointed the director of the Opera Division at 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 institution ...

(UTOD) in 1952, a post he held until 1966. During his tenure he also worked with the Opera Festival of Toronto (OFT) which had been founded by the UTOD in 1950; serving variously as the festival's artistic director (1953), managing director (1954), and general director (1955–56). In 1958 the OFT became a full-time professional opera company, the Canadian Opera Company, and Mazzoleoni was highly active conducting operas with the company until his sudden death in a car accident in 1968. Among his notable pupils were musicians Howard Cable, Robert Fleming, James Gayfer,

Godfrey Ridout Godfrey Ridout (6 May 1918 in Toronto – 24 November 1984 in Toronto) was a Canadians, Canadian composer, conductor, music educator, and writer. Life and career Ridout was a descendant of Thomas Ridout (politician), Thomas Ridout, the first Su ...

, and

Rudy Toth Rudy Toth (16 December 1925 – 9 July 2009) was a Canadian composer, arranger, conductor, pianist, and cimbalom player of Czech birth. As a composer he wrote works mainly for television and the radio, working frequently for the Canadian ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mazzoleni, Ettore 1905 births 1968 deaths Alumni of the University of Oxford Male conductors (music) Academic staff of The Royal Conservatory of Music Upper Canada College faculty Swiss music educators Canadian music educators 20th-century Canadian conductors (music) 20th-century Canadian male musicians Swiss emigrants to Canada