MUSIClassical ALLEGRO
Now Playing: ...accompanist to Canadian contralto Maureen Forrester
Topic: MILESTONESJun-Dec07
Canadian pianist, Arpin, known as the "Chopin of Ragtime" by jazz great Eubie Blake. Arpin died of cancer 8 NOV 2007 in Toronto. He was 70. Born in Port McNicoll, Ont., on Dec. 3, 1936, Arpin graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Music and then studied music at the University of Toronto. Arpin was music director and accompanist to Canadian contralto Maureen Forrester for many years and recorded many albums with her.
Ursula Vaughan Williams, who wrote librettos for her composer husband and produced his biography, has died at age 96. [photo: Vaughan Williams with his second wife, Ursula, and Sir John Barbirolli during a rehearsal of Sea Symphony in Manchester, 1951] Joan Ursula Penton Vaughan Williams (née Lock, first married name Wood, second married name Vaughan Williams) (March 15, 1911 – October 23, 2007) was an English poet and author, and biographer of her second husband, the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. 
Czech composer Petr Eben, whose wide variety of music has been performed around the globe, has died. He was 78. Eben died late Wednesday [24 OCT 2007] at his home in Prague, his son Marek told the CTK news agency Thursday. He was battling an unspecified long-term illness. Born Jan. 22, 1929, Eben showed a musical talent at early age. He was able to play piano at age 6 and organ at 9. A year later, he composed his first musical pieces. 
Canadian tenor Gary Rideout, an opera singer who performed on stages around the world, has died. The New Brunswick-born singer died 29 SEP 2007, after a brief, unexpected illness. He was 55. Rideout, was one of the finest operatic singing actors, won praise not only for the power, beauty and clarity of his voice, but for his incredible interpretive ability. In 2000-2001, Mr. Rideoout made his Metropolitan Opera debut in Bussoni's Doktor Faust, followed by Lulu and The Gambler. The following season, he returned to the Met to sing the Prince, Marquis and Manservant in Lulu, with James Levine conducting (radio broadcast) and to sing in War and Peace. Gary's exemplary work in the two Prokofiev operas led to his being invited by Valery Gergiev to sing Siegfried for the Kirov Opera. Mr. Rideout sang both the premiere of Siegfried and of Gotterdamerung at the Mariinsky Theatre with Maestro Gergiev conducting, during the 2002-2003 season, an experience that Gary claims was both life changing and affirming. That same year, Gary sang the world premiere of Deborah Drattel's opera Nicholas and Alexandra with Los Angeles Opera, Rostropovich conducting; Der Liebe der Danae at the Concergebouw, Edo de Waart conducting; Die Fledermaus with Utah Opera and the role of The Tempter/Abbott at the Benjamin Britten Festival in Ontario, Canada. 
Romanian baritone David Ohanesian, 80, passed away on Sunday night, 30 SEP 2007. Ohanesian has sung on the most famous world stages, accompanying celebrities like Luciano Pavarotti, Montserrat Caballe, Placido Domingo, Leontyne Price or Brigitte Nilsson. According to NewsIn, Ohanesian took part in more than 2000 opera shows and played about 40 roles, among which the memorable Oedipus of George Enescu, Romania’s most famous composer. Ohanesian was present on most of the stages in the world like Paris, Athens, Berlin, Sofia, Stockholm, Moscow or Lausanne. 
The opera world is saddened by the news of the passing of Canadian baritone Robert Savoie who died on Friday, September 14 2007, in Montreal from a sudden heart attack. Savoie, who turned 80 on April 27, was still teaching voice at the time of his death. Savoie is considered one Canada's leading baritones of all time. 
Pianist, composer and teacher Clifford Benson died on August 10, 2007 from an inoperable brain tumor. He was 60. Benson is remembered as a collaborative musician of great versatility, spirit and sensitivity. Among those with whom he had worked are violinists Levon Chilingirian, Shlomo Mintz and Lydia Mordkovitch, cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, clarinetist Thea King and flutists William Bennett, Marcel Moyse and Trevor Wye. 
As the Met's fortunes began to recover in the late 1930s, the young singer established a distinctive and distinguished career, anchored by her rigorous interpretive standards and unfailingly honest musicianship and abetted by her tall, slim figure, graceful deportment and genial stage presence. 