Boris Berlin

Boris Berlin

Berlin toured the Ontario region in chamber music concerts with a trio in 1925. In the same year, he took a position at the Hambourg Conservatory of Music in Toronto where he remained through 1927. In 1928 he joined the piano faculty at the Toronto Conservatory of Music (now The Royal Conservatory of Music) where he remained for several decades. At his position in the conservatory, he shifted focus to writing Canadian pedagogical works for music students and published his first collaboration with Ernest MacMillan in 1930. He became a naturalized Canadian citizen in 1931. In 1970 he joined the faculty of the University of Toronto. He also served as examiner, lecturer, and festival adjudicator throughout his career. Among his notable pupils are the classical pianists Louis Applebaum, Gwen Beamish MacMillan, Victor Alexeeff, Bernadene Blaha, Keith MacMillan, Andrew Markow, Christina Petrowska-Quilico, Dorothy Sandler, Geraldine Shuster Leder, Adrienne Shannon, Peter C. Simon, Lydia Wong, and the jazz pianists Norman Amadio and Rudy Toth as well as the conductor Charles Olivieri-Munroe.^[1] He composed many pieces including "March of the Goblins", "Monkeys in the tree", and "Jets on Parade".

The Royal Conservatory of Music named Berlin a "Heritage Teacher" in a ceremony on 6 April 1990. In 1992 he was awarded the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal and was made a Member of the Order of Ontario. In 2000 he became an Officer of the Order of Canada, but died in March 2001 in Toronto before the ceremony honouring him with this title was held.^[1]

References