*From Kitchen to Carnegie Hall: Ethel Stark and the Montreal Women’s
Symphony Orchestra,
This new book by Faculty of Music, University of Toronto Ph.D candidate,
Maria Noriega Rachwall, documents the fascinating and groundbreaking story
of the first all-women’s symphony orchestra in Canada, formed in 1940, and
directed by the first Canadian female conductor, Ethel Stark. Amazingly,
after just seven years, the orchestra took to the stage at Carnegie Hall –
the first Canadian orchestra to play in that most prestigious of venues!
The Montreal Women’s Symphony Orchestra, along with many other women’s
musical clubs and organisations – including the WMCT – played a pivotal
role in promoting women in the context of performing and presenting
classical music.
(Some of you may remember Maria wrote an article on this topic in the
WMCT’s February 2013 *News & Notes*)
~ Annette Sanger, President
The book is available at Amazon.ca and SecondStoryPress.ca