Rowland Pack

Rowland Sterling Pack (born July 15, 1927 in London , Ontario , † January 3, 1964 in Toronto ) was a Canadian cellist, organist and choirmaster.

As a child, Pack had piano lessons from his aunt Ruvy Pack , organ lessons from Thomas C. Chattoe, and cello lessons from Goldwin Quantz . At the age of fifteen he became a cantor at Robinson United Church . In 1947 he studied cello with Isaac Mamott , chamber music with Kathleen Parlow and music theory with John Weinzweig at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto .

In 1948 he became a member of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra , whose principal cellist he was from 1953 to 1957. As deputy first cellist he was also a member of the CBC Symphony Orchestra . As a chamber musician, he performed with his wife, the pianist Carol Pack, and founded the Pack Trio with her and the flautist Hugh Orr in 1955 and the Pack Quartet (also with the viol player and percussionist Donald Whitton ) .

From 1958 to 1962 Pack directed the Hart House Glee Club , at the same time he was cantor at Thornhill United Church . From members of the church choir, he founded the Rowland Pack Chamber Singers , an ensemble that specialized in performing early music and gave numerous concerts in the early 1960s.

After Pack's early death, who died of Hodgkin lymphoma , the CBC commissioned the composers Bert Niosi , Bill Richards , Giuseppe Agostini , Louis Applebaum , Harry Freedman , Ernest MacMillan , Oskar Morawetz , Phil Nimmons , Godfrey Ridout , R. Murray Schafer , Morris Surdin , Norman Symonds, and Healey Willan with a collaborative work broadcast on June 21, 1964. Two days later, members of the CBC Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra , the Festival Singers , Garnet Brooks , Victor Feldbrill , Maureen Forrester , Lois Marshall , Mary Morrison , Jan Simons and Heinz Unger also gave a concert in the O'Keefe Center in his memory .

source

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