Tag: Music

Born on June 16th. 1928 in Bucharest, Rumania, Sergiu Comissiona was a conductor and violinist, who was Music Director for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, from 1991 to 2000.  He began studying the violin at the age of five and was subsequently hired by the Romanian State Ensemble in his teens, making his debut at 17.…
Read more

Eleanor (Elnora Ruth) Collins (nee Procter) was born in Edmonton on November 21st, 1919. At 15 she won an amateur contest in Edmonton and subsequently sang with Joe Macelli’s dance band, with the Three ‘E’s, and on CFRN radio. She moved in 1938 to Vancouver and performed during the 1940s on CBC radio with a…
Read more

Jan Cherniavsky was born in Uman, Ukraine, on June 25th 1892. He became a Canadian in1922. He was the second of three brothers including Leo, violinist and Mischel, cellist, who performed together as the Cherniavsky Trio from childhood (1901) until 1934, Though all three brothers became Canadian citizens in 1922, only Jan actually lived in Canada, but not permanently until…
Read more

Welcome to the wonderful world of Gillian Campbell, a.k.a. “Klondike Kate”, “Queen Elizabeth”, “Mrs. Claus”, and “Charlie Chaplin”! The lady known as Gillian Campbell continues to leave a trail of laughter and praise behind her as her audiences return from Western Canada to the far corners of the Globe. Gillian has become a modern-day personification of…
Read more

Born on September 22, 1948, Jim Byrnes grew up in St. Louis, the middle child of a middle class family. He learned to play blues guitar at age 13– and continues to play on his favorite guitar, a Gibson 1969 Hummingbird. An eclectic individual, he studied for the priest hood in a seminary, and was…
Read more