Allard de Ridder

Allard de Ridder was born in Dordrecht, Holland on May 3, 1887. He studied violin and conducting in Holland and at the Cologne Cons. He was a guest conductor at Arnhem, The Hague, and Amsterdam. For two seasons he conducted the National Opera in Amsterdam. In 1919 he emigrated to the USA and became assistant conductor and violist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Many of his orchestral works received their premieres at this time. In 1930, on the invitation of Mrs B.T. Rogers, de Ridder conducted a concert by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. The conductor put up his $3,000 life savings to guarantee the musician’s wages for this first concert. This led to further concerts, four a year until 1933 when he moved to Canada as regular conductor of the orchestra. He retained that position until 1941. In 1934 he organized Stanley Park summer concerts, and persuaded W.H. Malkin to finance the construction of the Malkin Bowl. He was a guest lecturer 1936-7 at the University of British Columbia. Moving in 1941 to Toronto, de Ridder joined the Hart House String Quartet, taught at TCM. He received both a B. Music (1943) and D. Music (1946) from U. of Toronto. He founded and was the conductor 1944-50 of the Ottawa Philharmonic Orchestra and continued to guest- onduct in Vancouver before returning permanently in 1952. In his later years de Ridder taught conducting, viola, and composition and was revered by his students. De Ridder’s orchestral compositions include a violin concerto; four symphonic poems (Titania, On the Ocean, Song of Lamia, and In the Woods); a Sketch for flute, violin, and orchestra; an Overture in D; an Intermezzo; a string quartet; a scherzo for unaccompanied choir (Beware of Love). He died May 13 1966 in Vancouver