Peggie Sampson

Peggie Sampson , actually Margaret Sampson (born February 16, 1912 in Edinburgh , † May 17, 2004 in Toronto ) was a Canadian cellist, gambist and music teacher of British origin.

The daughter of astronomer Ralph Allen Sampson began cello training in her hometown at the age of eight with Ruth Waddell , which she continued with Guilhermina Suggia in London and Portugal. From 1929 to 1932 she studied at the University of Edinburgh with Donald Francis Tovey , whose assistant she was from 1937 to 1944. In the summers between 1930 and 1934 she took cello lessons from Diran Alexanian at the École normal in Paris and private lessons in music theory from Nadia Boulanger . She completed her training with Emanuel Feuermann (1935–37) and Pablo Casals (1946).

In the 1930s she performed in England and Holland, including playing Edward Elgar's cello concerto under the direction of her teacher Tovey and giving a concert with the Glyndebourne Festival Orchestra under the direction of Fritz Busch . From 1944 she worked as a freelance cellist and member of the Carter Trio in London. In 1951 she went to Canada, where she taught cello, music history and theory at the University of Manitoba for 20 years and gave private cello lessons in Winnipeg.

With the support of the University of Manitoba, she founded an experimental class for particularly gifted children, from which musicians such as Stephen Cera , Laurie Duncan , Mayda Narvey and Dace Stauvers emerged . Her private cello students included Gisela Depkat , John Derksen , Kenneth Murphy , Paul Pulford and Lynn Rudiak . She also appeared in the 1950s and 1960s as a solo cellist, member of the Corydon Trio (with Lea Foli and Gerald Stanick ) and in various ensembles of the University Chamber Music Group .

Since the early 1960s, her interest has increasingly focused on the viola da gamba , and she soon became Canada's most sought-after gambist. She founded the Manitoba University Consort with Christie Mather , took part in performances of Bach's Passions, performed three times at the Aldeburgh Festival (1972, 1974 and 1976) and at the Connoisseur Series at the St. Lawrence Center in Toronto with the Hart House Consort of Viols (1976-77) and in the 1977-78 season as a soloist at Wilfrid Laurier University , the University of Guelph , the University of British Columbia and the Toronto Spring Festival .

Since 1970 Sampson has taught at York University . She also gave summer courses at the University of Victoria in 1973, 1974 and 1975 . After leaving York University in 1977, she continued to teach part-time until 1984 and then sporadically at Wilfried Laurier University . As an interpreter, she was particularly interested in promoting contemporary literature for the cello and viol. She played the world premiere of Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatté's Duo concertante (1959), Bernard Naylors On Hearing Mrs. Arabella Hunt Singing (1970), Murray Adaskins Two Pieces (1972), David Rosenboom's The Seduction of Sapientia (1975) and Rudolf Komorous ' At Your Memory the Transparent Tears Fall like Molten Lead (1976). With Christine Harvey , Michael Purves-Smith and Derryck Aird , she founded the Quatre en Concert in 1976 to perform music from the 17th and 18th centuries, with which she performed in Canada and Holland. In 1985 she was honored with the Canada Music Council Medal .

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• Peggie Sampson ( English, French ) In: Encyclopedia of Music in Canada . published by The Canadian Encyclopedia .
• York University - Inventory of the Peggie Sampson Fund
• Peggie Sampson in the database of Find a Grave (English)