From my first singing lesson at the old Conservatory of Music on Drummond Street, I knew that I wanted to attend McGill.
That charming old building was my home for the next four years. Classes with Professor Marvin Duchow were special, as was the guidance of Helmut Blume. There I earned two Licentiate Diplomas in Education and Performance. The Bachelor of Music came a few years later, once all the required courses were available!
Besides all the vocal and music practice, I performed in the first of the McGill Opera Studio productions, that of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas. I also had the lead role in the Drama department’s production of Synge’s Playboy of the Western World.
To have sung the lead role in 120 performances from school days at McGill to Her Majesty’s Theatre in Montreal was indeed a great thrill and a privilege.”
A highlight for me was the role of Princess Aurora in the musical My Fur Lady, which was the 1957 production of McGill’s annual Red and White Revue. Four brilliant Law students had written a show that was witty, clever and politically relevant. Due to its outstanding success during the school year, it was remounted in June and played for 10 weeks in Moyse Hall to unexpectedly full houses! And so our phenomenal journey continued! We played at the Stratford Shakespearean Festival, at Toronto’s Royal Alexandra Theatre and in the autumn at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Montreal, again the biggest theatre in a major city. I then bid farewell to the travelling cast and returned to complete my final year of classical studies at the Conservatory. To have sung the lead role in 120 performances from school days at McGill to Her Majesty’s Theatre in Montreal was indeed a great thrill and a privilege.
Like all performers I continued to study with renowned teachers in places like Tanglewood and Aspen. As my classical singing career grew, I gave many recitals, 24 of which aired on CBC radio. I also appeared as a soloist with orchestras and choirs in Montreal, Ontario, and the Northeastern United States, culminating in performances with the Boston Pops Orchestra in Symphony Hall. Later came several roles with professional opera companies.
McGill gave me a three-part career which consisted of performing, lecturing and teaching at three universities across our nation, including four years at the McGill Faculty of Music.
Most recently I’ve had renewed contact with McGill, as living in Vancouver has led me to be invited to sing the national anthem for 12 years at the annual Leacock Luncheons.
I could also give credit to McGill for allowing me to meet the handsome Brit (my husband of 50 years) who was a guest at an ad hoc reunion in Brampton, Ontario!
Those years at McGill led to many wonderful friendships which I enjoy to this day…friends from my sorority (Kappa Kappa Gamma), the Conservatory, and especially from the My Fur Lady days.
I thank you Old McGill from the bottom of my heart for all these successes and adventures, and for the privilege of being an entertainer and educator.