Two of the best party personalities in this city are are Ruth and Oskar
Morawetz. They both belong to that fast diminishing class of citizens who can
silence a cocktail gathering with a few opening bars of classical pianoforte
music and later persuade the same guests to raise the roof with pop songs around
the keyboard.
It therefore pleases me to learn that jolly, chubby, Oskar Morawetz has been commissioned by the Festival Singers of Toronto to compose an unaccompanied choral work in honor of the Centennial.
Dr. Morawetz is now known as the most performed composer in Canada. He ranks as the first composer to receive a commission to create a
symphony, his Second Symphony, for the Toronto Symphony.
Eighteen of Oskar Morawetz's compositions have been recorded by such well known artists as Glenn Gould, Anton Kuerti, Rudolf Firkusny, Lois Marshall, Donald Bell and Dorothy
Maynor.
Dr. Morawetz's work for The Festival Singers of Canada, led by Elmer Iseler will find expression in superb voices. The Festival Singers, founded in 1954 and numbering 32 choristers, are one of the few full-time professional choirs in the world today.
Since Stravinsky conducted them in a CBC performance of his Festival Of The Psalms, some years ago, he has employed them continuously for his recording
of new choral works.
It is almost certain that the Festival Singers, performing Oskar Morawetz's new work, without instrumental accompaniment, will enhance the reputation of themselves and the composer, around the world.
Dr. Morawetz's beautiful wife Ruth, a highly accomplished pianist, is no musical snob. Before her marriage she played that big white piano on which bar flies still lean, with tears in their eyes, in the Westbury Hotel.
