Ricky Hyslop (26 April 1915 – 2 June 1998) was a Canadian

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

ist, conductor,

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

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

. He was commissioned to write works by the

Buffalo Philharmonic The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra located in Buffalo, New York led by Music Director JoAnn Faletta. Its primary performing venue is Kleinhans Music Hall, which is a National Historic Landmark. Each season it p ...

(the

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ''T ...

s ''Toronto 1830'' and ''Mizu Uni''),

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

ist Avrahm Galper (''Peanut Suite'' for solo clarinet), and guitarist Gregory Alliston (''Barca for guitar and soprano''). Several of his works for violin have been published by The Frederick Harris Music Co, Limited, including three graded volumes for teaching purposes between 1987-1989.

Life and career

Born in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, Hyslop began his violin studies as a child in his native city 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 ...

and Jean de Rimanoczy. He began his performance career as a teenager performing as a soloist on CNRV radio. Early on in his career he served as

concertmaster The concertmaster (from the German ''Konzertmeister''), first chair (U.S.) or leader (U.K.) is the principal first violin player in an orchestra (or clarinet in a concert band). After the conductor, the concertmaster is the second-most signifi ...

or as a member of various orchestras associated with the CRBC and CBC in Vancouver. In 1941 Hyslop became music director for CBC Vancouver's ''Harmony House'', a program featuring the singers Pat Morgan and Suzanne and the pianist Bud Henderson. He continued in that position up through 1953, during which time he also worked as a conductor for

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

on such variety shows as ''Here's Juliette'', ''String Along'', and ''Scored by Hyslop'' among others. In 1959 he relocated to Toronto to become the music director for

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...

's ''Talent Caravan''. He left that program after a short time, returning to CBC Radio where he was music director for such programs as ''1967 and All That'' and ''CBC Song Market'' among other programs during the 1960s. Hyslop also worked as a composer for the CBC, writing incidental music for such CBC TV drama series as ''The Serial'', ''Opening of the West'', ''Gold - the Fabulous Years'', ''

A Place for Everything ''A Place for Everything'' was a Canadian television nature series which aired on CBC Television from 1964 to 1966. Premise This series concerned ecology, covering topics such as endangered or lesser-known animal species. The series included a ...

'', and ''A Gift to Last'' and contributing music to several TV specials. He also composed music for the

CTV Television Network The CTV Television Network, commonly known as CTV, is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. Launched in 1961 and acquired by BCE Inc. in 2000, CTV is Canada's largest privately owned television network and is now a divis ...

programs ''The Human Journey'' and ''Being Human'' and composed the

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

for the 1977 feature film ''

Why Shoot the Teacher ''Why Shoot the Teacher?'' is a 1977 Canadian comedy-drama film directed by Silvio Narizzano and starring Bud Cort, Samantha Eggar, Kenneth Griffith, and Chris Wiggins. It is based on a book of the same name by Max Braithwaite. Plot The plot i ...

''. He later wrote the score for the 1995 CTV News video ''The Russian German War''. Hyslop died in Toronto in 1998 at the age of 83. In 2000 many of his original scores and papers became a part of the collection at the

Library and Archives Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is th ...

. He was married to the singer Lorraine Johnson who notably wrote the lyrics to his one-act school operetta ''Sedna: An Arctic Legend'' which was published in 1982. Their daughter, pop singer

Jane Child Jane Richmond Hyslop (born 15 February 1967), known professionally as Jane Child, is a Canadian singer, songwriter and record-producer best known for her hit single " Don't Wanna Fall in Love". She is also known for her unusual fashion style, w ...

, included Hyslop's songs "Monument" and "Step Out of Time" on her 1993 album ''Here Not There''.

References

External links

Ricky Hyslop fonds (R14100)
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hyslop, Ricky 1915 births 1998 deaths 20th-century classical violinists 20th-century Canadian conductors (music) 20th-century Canadian composers Canadian classical violinists Canadian male composers Male conductors (music) Canadian film score composers Jewish Canadian musicians Male film score composers Male classical violinists Musicians from Vancouver 20th-century Canadian male musicians 20th-century Canadian violinists and fiddlers Canadian male violinists and fiddlers