This Month in Arts History – July

July 1

1963: After undergoing major renovations, Halifax's Neptune Theatre re-opened with a performance of George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara.

July 2

1900: Founding director of the Stratford Festival, Sir Tyrone Guthrie, was born at Tunbridge Wells, England.

July 3

1952: Novelist Rohinton Mistry was born at Bombay, India. His first novel, Such a Long Journey, won a Governor General's Literary Award in 1991.

July 5

1943: Songwriter Robbie Robertson, half Jewish, half Mohawk, was born at Toronto. As a member of the Hawks band he was part of the support unit for Bob Dylan's 1965-66 world tour. In 1980 he composed the score for Martin Scorsese's film, Raging Bull.

July 6

1900: The Art Gallery of Ontario was incorporated by a group of private individuals. Today it is the 10th-largest gallery in the world.

July 8

1917: Painter Tom Thomson died under suspicious circumstances at Canoe Lake, Ontario. He was instrumental in developing the school of landscape painting, anchored in the Algonquin wilderness, that led after his death to the formation of the Group of Seven.

July 9

1953: Dancer-choreographer Margie Gillis was born at Montreal. Acclaimed internationally for her outstanding solo performances, she was named Canadian Cultural Ambassador by then Prime Minister Trudeau in 1981.

July 10

1931: Short story writer Alice Munro was born at Wingham, Ontario. She has won the Governor General's Literary Award (fiction) three times: in 1968 for Dance of the happy shades, in 1978 for Who do you think you are? and in 1986 for The progress of love.

July 11

1949: Classical guitarist Liona Boyd was born at London, England. She has recorded over 20 albums, many of which have gone gold or platinum.

July 12

2004: Dance educator Betty Oliphant died at St. Catharines, Ontario. Invited to become founding principal of the National Ballet School in 1959, she led the school for the first 30 years of its existence and trained many of Canada's finest dancers.

July 13

1953: The Stratford Festival opened its first summer season with Alec Guinness starring in Richard III.

1993: Christopher Plummer helped celebrate the Stratford Festival's 40th anniversary with a one-man show entitled A Word or Two before You Go.

July 14

1938: Architect Moshe Safdie was born at Haifa, Israel. His projects include the National Gallery of Canada.

July 15

2006: Artist Kenneth Lochhead died in Ottawa. As Director of the Regina College School of Art through the 1950s and 1960s, he introduced new ideas about abstract painting through artists' workshops at Emma Lake.

July 16

2003: Writer Carol Shields died at Victoria, British Columbia. In 1995 her novel The Stone Diaries won both the Governor General's Literary Award (fiction) and the American Pulitzer Prize.

July 17

1935: Donald Sutherland was born at Saint John, New Brunswick. His career in film and television includes more than 100 roles in a memorable gallery of screen personae.

July 18

1926: Margaret Laurence was born at Neepawa, Ontario. She won two Governor General's Literary Awards (fiction): in 1966 for A Jest of God and in 1974 for The Diviners.

July 19

1908: Novelist Ernest Buckler was born at Dalhousie West, Nova Scotia. His best remembered novel, The Mountain and the Valley, displays his sensitivity to the landscape and human character of his native Annapolis Valley.

July 20

1936: Writer Alistair MacLeod was born at North Battleford, Saskatchewan. In

2001 he was named winner of the international IMPAC Dublin Literary Award for his novel, No Great Mischief, set in Cape Breton.

July 21

2000: Prima ballerina, author and film director Veronica Tennant won the Canada Council's Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts.

July 24

1944: Cree artist Jackson Beardy was born at Island Lake, Manitoba. His art expresses cosmological and spiritual concepts such as balance in nature.

July 25

1930: World-famous contralto Maureen Forrester was born at Montreal. She made her European debut in February 1955, and the tour that followed was so successful that it was extended an additional six months.

July 26

1958: Pianist Angela Hewitt was born at Ottawa. One of the outstanding Bach pianists of our time, she was also a founding member of Piano Six, a group dedicated to bringing live music performance to rural and remote areas of Canada.

July 27

1932: Playwright George Ryga was born at Deep Creek, Alberta. He was catapulted to fame with his play The Ecstasy of Rita Joe, which premiered at the Vancouver Playhouse in 1967.

July 28

1909: Novelist Malcolm Lowry was born at New Brighton, England. He wrote his most famous novel, Under the Volcano, while living in Canada.

July 29

1978: Baroque ensemble Tafelmusik, performing on period instruments, gave its first concert at the Bathurst Street Theatre, Toronto. Jeanne Lamon has been director and concertmaster since 1981.

July 30

1949: Composer Alexina Louie was born at Vancouver. She has twice received the SOCAN Award for Most Frequently Performed Composer. The Vancouver Symphony performed her composition The Ringing Earth at the gala opening of Expo 86.

July 31

1929: Filmmaker Gilles Carle was born at Maniwaki, Quebec. His films include La vraie nature de Bernadette and Maria Chapdelaine.
1980: The first Festival of the Sound opened at Parry Sound, Ontario. The festival was founded by distinguished pianist Anton Kuerti.