Frances Adaskin

Frances Adaskin
Birth name Frances Alice Marr
Born August 23, 1900
Ridgetown, Ontario, Canada
Origin Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Died March 8, 2001 (aged 100)
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Occupation(s) Pianist
Instruments Piano

Frances Marr Adaskin, CM (August 23, 1900 – March 8, 2001) was a Canadian pianist.

Biography

Adaskin was born Frances Alice Marr in Ridgetown, Ontario. She was the daughter of Del and Eunice Marr and the eldest of three siblings.[1] She began playing the piano at an early age under the direction of Whitney Scherer.[1] She also studied at the Alma College (St. Thomas, Ontario) under Thomas Martin and eventually in Toronto at the Conservatory of Music under Paul Wells.[1]

In 1923, her first engagement as a professional accompanist was with violinist Harry Adaskin.[1] She married him in 1926.[2] She travelled with her husband, until 1938, on tour of North America and Europe with the Hart House String Quartet.[1]

Adaskin was also an entertainment writer (mostly of short stories). Many of her works were published in Saturday Night Magazine throughout the 1940s.[note 1][1] She also completed her unpublished memoirs, titled Fran's Scrapbook: A Talking Dream.[note 2]

National Honours

Adaskin received the Order of Canada honour on December 15, 1976.[3] It was awarded for "...a life devoted to music as accompanist of international repute and as a soloist and teacher..."[3] She was invested as a Member on April 29, 1977.[4]

Adaskin died in Vancouver on March 8, 2001.[2]

References

Notes
  1. ↑ It is unclear what publication of Saturday Night Adaskin was published in the 1940s.
  2. ↑ Fran's Scrapbook: A Talking Dream her autobiographical book of memoirs remain unpublished as at 2002.
Citations
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Frances Marr Adaskin fonds". www.library.ubc.ca. University of British Columbia. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Dorenfeld, Joanne; Nygaard King, Betty. "Frances Marr Adaskin". The Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. The Historica Dominion Institute. thecanadianencyclopedia.com. Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Right Honourable Jules Léger PC, CC, OMM, CD (18 December 1976). "Frances M. Adaskin » Canada Gazette Part I, Vol. 110, No. 51" (PDF). gazette.gc.ca. Ottawa: Governor General of Canada. Canada Gazette. Government House. p. 2 (6420 Canada Gazette). Retrieved 9 January 2012.
  4. ↑ Governor General of Canada. "Frances M. Adaskin, C.M.". gg.ca. Ottawa: Queen's Printer for Canada. Retrieved 9 January 2012. In recognition of a life devoted to music as accompanist of international repute and as a soloist and teacher beloved of her colleagues and pupils at the University of British Columbia, where she founded the Music Department.

External links