Maureen Kathleen Stewart Forrester, (July 25, 1930 – June 16, 2010) was a Canadian

operatic Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

contralto A contralto () is a classical music, classical female singing human voice, voice whose vocal range is the lowest of their voice type, voice types. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare, similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to ...

Life and career

Maureen Forrester was born and grew up in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Quebec, one of four children of Thomas Forrester, a British cabinetmaker from

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 ...

, and his Irish-born wife, the former May Arnold. She sang in church and radio choirs. At age 13, she dropped out of school to help support the family, working as a secretary at Bell Telephone. When her brother came home from the war he persuaded her to take singing lessons. She paid for voice lessons with Sally Martin, Frank Rowe, and baritone Bernard Diamant. In the spring of 1951, Forrester appeared on the CBC radio talent competition '' Opportunity Knocks'', singing "

Ombra mai fu "" ("Never was a shade…"), also known as "Largo from ''Xerxes''" or "Handel's Largo", is the opening aria from the opera '' Serse'' (1738) by George Frideric Handel. Context The opera was a commercial failure, lasting only five performances ...

", and describing herself to the host as a "starving musician" and part-time

switchboard operator In the early days of telephony, companies used manual telephone switchboards, and switchboard operators connected calls by inserting a pair of phone plugs into the appropriate jacks. They were gradually phased out and replaced by automated syste ...

. She was ultimately named first runner-up, and later competed on the similar shows '' Singing Stars of Tomorrow'', and '' Nos Futures Étoiles''. She gave her debut recital at the local

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swit ...

in 1953. She made her concert debut in

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

's Ninth Symphony with the

Montreal Symphony Orchestra The Montreal Symphony Orchestra () is a Canadian symphony orchestra based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The orchestra’s home is the Montreal Symphony House at Place des Arts. History Several orchestras were precursor ensembles to the curren ...

under

Otto Klemperer Otto Nossan Klemperer (; 14 May 18856 July 1973) was a German conductor and composer, originally based in Germany, and then the United States, Hungary and finally, Great Britain. He began his career as an opera conductor, but he was later bet ...

She toured extensively in Canada and Europe with Jeunesses Musicales. She made her

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

debut in

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

in 1956.

Bruno Walter Bruno Walter (born Bruno Schlesinger, September 15, 1876February 17, 1962) was a Germany, German-born Conducting, conductor, pianist, and composer. Born in Berlin, he escaped Nazi Germany in 1933, was naturalised as a French people, French cit ...

invited her to sing for him; he was looking for the right contralto for a performance and recording of the

Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

Symphony No. 2 "Resurrection". This was the start of a warm relationship with great rapport. Walter had been a protégé of Mahler, and he trained Forrester in interpretation of his works. She performed at Walter's farewell performances with the

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic is an American symphony orchestra based in New York City. Known officially as the ''Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc.'', and globally known as the ''New York Philharmonic Orchestra'' (NYPO) or the ''New Yo ...

in 1957. In 1957, she married the Toronto violinist and conductor Eugene Kash. The couple had five children, including actors

Linda Kash Linda Kash (born 17 January 1961) is a Canadian actress. Career Kash was born 17 January 1961, in Montreal. She was a cast member of Second City and played Trudy Weissman in the 1998 Jean Smart sitcom '' Style & Substance''; she has also playe ...

and

Daniel Kash Daniel Joshua Kash (born April 25, 1959) is a Canadian actor and film director. He is known for his appearances in films such as '' Aliens'', '' The Hunt for the BTK Killer'', and ''The Path to 9/11'', and in television series such as ''Law & Ord ...

. Forrester converted to Judaism. She performed regularly in concert and opera. At the

New York City Opera The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through its 2013 bankruptcy, and again since 2016 when it was revived. The opera company, dubbed "the peopl ...

, she sang Cornelia in Handel's ''Giulio Cesare'' (1966), opposite

Norman Treigle Norman Treigle (né Adanelle Wilfred Treigle (March 6, 1927February 16, 1975) was an American operatic bass-baritone, who was acclaimed for his great abilities as a singing-actor, and specialized in roles that evoked villainy and terror. Biograp ...

and

Beverly Sills Beverly Sills (born Belle Miriam Silverman; May 25, 1929July 2, 2007) was an American operatic soprano whose career peak was between the 1950s and 1970s. Although she sang a repertoire from Handel and Mozart to Puccini, Massenet and Verd ...

, which was recorded by

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

in 1967. She sang at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

in New York in 1975 in ''

Das Rheingold ''Das Rheingold'' (; ''The Rhinegold''), Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis, WWV 86A, is the first of the four epic poetry, epic music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's Literary cycle, cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nib ...

'' (Erda), ''

Siegfried Siegfried is a German-language male given name, composed from the Germanic elements ''sig'' "victory" and ''frithu'' "protection, peace". The German name has the Old Norse cognate ''Sigfriðr, Sigfrøðr'', which gives rise to Swedish ''Sigfrid' ...

'', and '' Un ballo in maschera''. Forrester also provided the voice of the Bianca Castafiore character in the

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

The Adventures of Tintin ''The Adventures of Tintin'' ( ) is a series of 24 comic albums created by Belgians, Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name Hergé. The series was one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century. By 2007, a c ...

''. She was a strong champion of Canadian composers, regularly scheduling their works in her programs, especially when she toured abroad. A notable example is composer Donald Steven, whose work "Pages of Solitary Delights" (winner of the 1987 Juno Award for Classical Composition of the Year) was written for Ms. Forrester. From 1983-88 she served as Chair of the

Canada Council The Canada Council for the Arts (), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It is Canada's public arts funder, with a mandate to ...

. In 1986, she co-authored her autobiography, ''Out of Character'' (), with journalist Marci McDonald.

Death

Maureen Forrester died on June 16, 2010, aged 79, in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, after a long battle with dementia. She was predeceased by Eugene Kash, her former husband, whom she had divorced in 1974, and who died in 2004. She was survived by her five children.

Honours

* In 1967, Forrester was made a Companion of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

. * In 1969, Forrester received an honorary doctorate from

Sir George Williams University Sir George Williams University was a university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It merged with Loyola College to create Concordia University on August 24, 1974. History In 1851, the first YMCA in North America was established on Sainte-Hélène St ...

, one of

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

's founding institutions. * On April 8, 1969, Forrester was chosen to sing the Canadian national anthem at the first Montreal Expos regular-season baseball game, at Shea Stadium in New York City. * In 1979, Forrester received the Loyola Medal from Concordia University. * In 1980, Forrester received the diplôme d'honneur from the Canadian Conference of the Arts * In 1983, Forrester was awarded

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

's Sanford Medal. * From 1986–90, Maureen Forrester was Chancellor of

Wilfrid Laurier University Wilfrid Laurier University (commonly referred to as WLU or simply Laurier) is a Public university, public university in Ontario, Canada, with campuses in Waterloo, Ontario, Waterloo, Brantford, Ontario, Brantford and Milton, Ontario, Milton. The ...

; the University's recital hall is named in her honour. * In 1990, Forrester was inducted into the

Canadian Music Hall of Fame The Canadian Music Hall of Fame was established in 1978 by the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) to honour Canadian musicians for their lifetime achievements in music. The award presentation is held each year as part of th ...

(aka Juno Hall of Fame). * In 1995, Forrester received a

Governor General's Performing Arts Award The Governor General's Performing Arts Awards are an annual Canadian award, presented to honour distinguished achievements in Canadian performing arts and culture. Administered by the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards Foundation in associ ...

. * In 1999, Forrester received the

Order of Ontario The Order of Ontario is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Ontario. Instituted in 1986 by Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, on the Advice (constitutional), advice of the Executive Council ...

. * In 2000, Forrester received a star on

Canada's Walk of Fame Canada's Walk of Fame () in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is a walk of fame that acknowledges the achievements and accomplishments of Canadians who have excelled in their respective fields. It is a series of maple leaf-like stars embedded in 13 de ...

.Canada's Walk of Fame: Maureen Forrester
, canadaswalkoffame.com; accessed June 23, 2015. * In 2003, Forrester was made an Officer of the

National Order of Quebec The National Order of Quebec ( French: ), also known as the Order of Quebec, is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Quebec. Instituted in 1984 when Lieutenant Governor Jean-Pierre Côté granted royal assent to the (Natio ...

. * In 2004, Forrester became a MasterWorks honouree by the

Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada The Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada (or the AV Trust). originally the Alliance for the Preservation of Canada's Audio-Visual Heritage,Music of Canada The music of Canada reflects the diverse influences that have History of Canada, shaped the country. Indigenous Peoples, the Irish-Canadians, Irish, British, and the French have all made unique contributions to the musical Culture of Canada, herit ...

References

External links

AVTrust.ca - Maureen Forrester (video clip)
galarecords.ca

November 21, 1988 *
The Adventures of Tintin
on IMDb {{DEFAULTSORT:Forrester, Maureen 1930 births 2010 deaths Canadian contraltos Canadian people of Irish descent Canadian people of Scottish descent Canadian Music Hall of Fame inductees Chancellors by university and college in Canada Companions of the Order of Canada Members of the Order of Ontario Operatic contraltos Officers of the National Order of Quebec Singers from Montreal Singers from Toronto Anglophone Quebec people Fellows of the Royal Conservatory of Music Jewish Canadian musicians Converts to Judaism Deaths from dementia in Canada Canadian women academics Women academic administrators Canadian academic administrators 20th-century Canadian women opera singers Governor General's Award winners