Mural in Ethel-Stark Park, corner of Prince Arthur St W and Clark St, Montreal, QC Project coordinated by Gabrielle Tiven

About Ethel Stark and the Montreal Women’s Symphony Orchestra

Ethel Stark (1910-2012), a native Montrealer, was a virtuoso violinist and one of the first female classical music conductors in North America. In 1928, she was the first Canadian accepted into the renowned Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and throughout her life performed as a violin soloist around the world. In 1934, Ethel Stark became the first Canadian woman to perform as soloist in a broadcasted program across the USA.

In 1940, at a time when women were forbidden from playing in professional orchestras, she founded the Montreal Women’s Symphony Orchestra (MWSO). This all-female ensemble was integrated across language, religion, class, and race. The MWSO was the first Canadian orchestra to ever play Carnegie Hall, where they gave a triumphant performance in 1947. She conducted the orchestra until it folded in 1965, around the time that professional orchestras started allowing women to audition. Several MWSO players were among the first women to get jobs in major professional orchestras in North America, and other members became renowned music professors and composers.

Stark and the women of the MWSO were pioneering musicians who changed the classical music world by proving that women could conduct and play at the highest levels. She was a laureat of the Quebec Academy of Music, recipient of the Curtis diploma, fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and the recipient of an honorary degree (LLD) from Concordia University, Montreal. She was also founding director of the New York Women’s Chamber Orchestra, the Ethel Stark Symphonietta, and the Montreal Women’s Symphony Strings. She was guest conductor with symphonies in Canada and abroad, including Israel and Tokyo, Japan. Ethel Stark was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1980.