Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1920-1997 (Creation)
Level of description
Fonds
Extent and medium
5 cm of textual records
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Eugene "Jack" Kash was a violinist, conductor, and teacher in Toronto. He studied violin with Luigi von Kunits (1928-1931), Arthur Meieff (1928-1931), Otakar Ševčík (1931-1935), Bronislaw Huberman, Kathleen Parlow (1940-1941), and Dmitri Dounis, and conducting with William Steinberg and Igor Markevitch.
Kash performed with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (1934-1942), in CBC orchestras, and was acting concertmaster for the Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra's Promenade Symphony Concerts. Kash was the music director for the National Film Board (1948-1950); concertmaster (1944-1950) and conductor (1950-1957) of the Ottawa Philharmonic Orchestra; academic administrator of the National Youth Orchestra (1963); and conductor of Montreal Symphony Orchestra youth concerts (1964-1965). In the 1940s and 1950s, he performed regularly with Greta Kraus and Pearl Palmason, and form 1961 to 1975, he participated in the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico with his wife, Canadian contralto Maureen Forrester. He was also a member of Soundstage Canada '81.
As a teacher, he worked at the Philadelphia Musical Academy (1967-1971), York University (1971-1973), and the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) (1975-2004).
He received the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal and the City of Toronto Award of Merit in 2004.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Materials were likely donated in 2004 along with Eugene Kash's personal music library.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Fonds consists of programs from his performances, a letter confirming his appointment to the Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM) in Toronto, a newspaper clipping, and his annotated copy of the Canadian Music Centre sheet music for Six Miniatures after Hokusai for violin and piano by Elliot Weisgarber (1972). The fonds also includes two catalogues for his personal music library: one current to 1976, and another current to 1997.