George Enescu and Toronto

He may be under-represented in today’s local recital programs, but during his life George Enescu was well known and welcomed to Toronto.

The George Enescu Festival lands in Canada for the first time this September, with three events in Toronto and one in Montreal. But is the great Romanian composer a familiar name to Canadians?

AGED 55, HE VISITED TORONTO

Back in 1937 social media was not as pervasive as today, but thank goodness for the Social Notes section in the Toronto Daily Star!

Nestled deep in the 22nd page of a Monday edition, we find that, over a cold January weekend, Georges Enescu (a mix of the French and Romanian spellings of his name; in Paris, he was Georges Enesco, while in Bucharest George Enescu) was a guest of the Women’s Musical Club.

Just a few months before Enescu, one Andres Segovia left a lasting impression at the same place. The club, founded in 1899, is alive and well today.

Read more: https://georgemotoc.com/2019/09/15/george-enescu-and-toronto/