Eileen Law

Eileen Law (born October 16, 1900 in Belfast , † November 30, 1978 in Toronto ) was a Canadian oratorio and opera singer ( contra-alto ) and music teacher.

Law studied from 1922 to 1926 at the Canadian Academy of Music piano with Ernest MacMillan and singing with Jenny Taggart . From 1926 to 1936 she was a private student of Hope Morgan . She also took lessons with Emmy Heim in Toronto (1936), Pauline Donalda in Montreal (1940) and Louis Bachner in New York (1941).

Law was best known as an oratorio singer. She was solo singer at the Timothy Eaton Memorial Church from 1923 to 1936 and at the First Church of Christ Scientist in Toronto from 1936 to 1945 and sang in performances of Bach's St. Matthew Passion for 25 years . As an opera singer she performed at the Opera House of the Air under Reginald Stewart in the early 1930s , and in 1939 she sang Ortrud in Wagner's Lohengrin in a performance by the Opera Guild of Toronto at Massey Hall . An invitation to the Vienna State Opera was canceled due to the German invasion of Austria.

In 1942 she was the soloist in Herbert A. Fricker's farewell performance of Bach's B minor Mass with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir . In 1945 she was the soloist in the Canadian premiere of Mahler's Lied von der Erde with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra . In 1946 she performed as a soloist in Beethoven's Missa solemnis at the Montreal Festival and Verdi's Requiem with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City.

From 1938 to 1977 Law was a teacher at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, from 1952 to 1961 she taught at the Music Faculty of the University of Toronto . She also gave summer courses at the Mount St Vincent Academy in Halifax, among others . Her students include James Crackokatt , Millard Williams , Mary Alice Rodgers , Constance Newland, and Donna Small .

source

• The Canadian Encyclopedia - Eileen Law