Ivan Romanoff

Ivan Romanoff (aka Ivan Pezhuk ; born March 8, 1914 in Toronto ; † March 14, 1997 ibid) was a Canadian conductor , violinist , arranger and composer .

Life

The son of Ukrainian immigrants played in a mandolin orchestra as a child and then studied violin at the Toronto Conservatory of Music with Alexander Chuhaldin , Chris Dafeff , Broadus Farmer and Kathleen Parlow . In the early 1930s he was a member of the Chuhaldins and Stanley St Johns dance orchestras, performed at the Promenade Symphony Concerts and with orchestras of the CBC in various programs of the station. During World War II he worked as a conductor , arranger and musician for the Revue Meet the Navy of the Royal Canadian Navy .

From 1947 to 1949 Romanoff studied violin with Jindřich Feld , conducting with Václav Talich and composition with Milo Delenzil at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague . During the Prague Spring 1947 he performed works by Barbara Pentland , Harry Somers and John Weinzweig as a conductor with the Czech Philharmonic . After his return to Canada, he led a string ensemble with the CBC, played the viola for a short time in the Solway String Quartet and directed performances of Hulak-Artemowskyj's Die Zaporoger an der Donau ( The Cossack beyond the Danube , 1951) and Rimski-Korsakow's May Night at the CBC ( May Night , 1952).

1953 founded Romanoff the ensemble Ivan Romanoff Orchestra and Chorus , which he directed more than 30 years. With this he made his debut in the CBC with the weekly program Songs of My People , which ran until 1963, followed by Continental Holiday (1964 and 1970 to 1972), Continental Rhapsody (1965 to 1970), The Music of Ivan Romanoff (1972 to 1973 ) and Music of Our People (1973 to 1976) as well as the television series Rhapsody and other television productions. He performed with the ensemble, whose repertoire included songs from more than 40 countries, in the USA and Canada and recorded several records, including Ukrainian Christmas with his third wife, the singer Lesia Zubrack . As a composer, Romanoff emerged with songs in various national styles as well as jingles and film scores for television.

source

• Ivan Romanoff ( English, French ) In: Encyclopedia of Music in Canada . published by The Canadian Encyclopedia .