Lloyd Edgar Blackman (5 January 1928 – 16 September 2014) was a Canadian violinist,

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 ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, and music educator.

Life and career

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Blackman studied violin with John Waterhouse and George Bornoff and music theory with W.H. Anderson. He earned a Licentiate from The Royal Conservatory of Music in 1944 at the age of 16. He later studied violin privately in New York City with Theodor Pashkus and with Ottokar Čadek at the University of Michigan from 1948 to 1949 and 1959–1960. He also studied conducting with

Allard de Ridder Allard de Ridder (3 May 1887 – 13 May 1966) was a Dutch–Canadian conductor, violist, and composer. He was notably the first conductor of both the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, the latter of which he found ...

. Blackman began his performance career playing in several different orchestras for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation when he was just 15 years old. He quickly began performing in a variety of other ensembles, including travelling shows and ballet orchestras. In 1947 he was appointed principal violinist of the

CBC Winnipeg Orchestra The CBC Winnipeg Orchestra (CBCWO) was a radio orchestra based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It was operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for 37 years. The orchestra mainly performed on CBC Radio, but also occasionally performed liv ...

, a post he held for two years. He served in the same position for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in 1948–1949, during which time he was also an instrumental instructor in Winnipeg schools. From 1955–1975 he was concert master and associate conductor of the Regina Symphony Orchestra. He also worked as a conductor for CBC Radio concerts out of Regina. In 1950 Blackman was appointed music director at Regina Central Collegiate Institute, later becoming supervisor of music for the Regina high schools in 1961. In 1954–1955 he conducted the Saskatchewan Golden Jubilee Chorus and in 1959 his musical, ''Prairie Pastel'' (for which his wife Elisabeth Blackman wrote the libretto), was presented for the Regina school's 50th anniversary. In 1962 he founded the Regina Inter-Collegiate Choir and Orchestra, ensembles with which he notably led performances at Expo 67 and on tours to Vancouver, Calgary, London (1972), and Minneapolis and St. Paul (1974). From 1963 to 1980 he was coordinator of fine arts for the Regina Board of Education. He also taught courses in music education at the University of Regina and the University of Saskatchewan and worked periodically in the summers as the orchestra conductor for the Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts. In 1980 Blackman relocated to British Columbia to assume the post of conductor and music director of the Nanaimo Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble with which he has appeared several times as a soloist. In 1985 he became director of the Delta Youth Orchestra, a post he held through 1990. On September 16, 2014, he died in Vancouver, British Columbia, at the age of 86.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackman, Lloyd 1928 births 2014 deaths Canadian classical violinists Male classical violinists Canadian composers Canadian male composers Male conductors (music) Canadian music educators The Royal Conservatory of Music alumni University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance alumni Academic staff of the University of Regina Academic staff of the University of Saskatchewan Musicians from Winnipeg 21st-century Canadian conductors (music) 21st-century classical violinists 21st-century Canadian male musicians Canadian expatriates in the United States 21st-century Canadian violinists and fiddlers Canadian male violinists and fiddlers