Ethel Stark
Ethel Stark, (25 August 1910 – 16 February 2012) was a Canadian violinist and conductor. Born in Montreal, Quebec, she studied at the McGill Conservatory of Music with Alfred De Sève and Alfred Whitehead. From 1928 to 1934, she studied at the Curtis Institute of Music with Lea Luboshutz, Louis Bailly, Artur Rodziński, Fritz Reiner and Carl Flesch. For many years she taught on the faculty of the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal. In 1979 she was made a Member of the Order of Canada. In 2003 she was made a Grand Officer of the National Order of Quebec. In 1980 she was awarded a Doctor of Laws, honoris causa degree from Concordia University. She died in Montreal and was buried in Montreal's Spanish and Portuguese Congregation Cemetery. A park in Montreal has been named after her. Parc Ethel-Stark is located at the corner of Prince-Arthur Ouest and Clark streets. Montreal Women's Symphony In 1940, at the age of 29, Ethel founded the Montreal Women's Symphony Orchestra, which she conducted until 1960. She was the first conductor of an all women's symphony. The decision to form this orchestra was a spur of the moment decision that Stark made.