Glamorous, talented and world-famous, a husband and wife piano duo were not typical professors at Western in the 1950s.
Margaret Parsons and Clifford Poole balanced performance tours with teaching and inspiring young musicians. They also recorded their work, created educational materials and started the Gilbert & Sullivan productions still going strong in London today.
Margaret Parsons and Clifford Poole
To honour the legacy of this dynamic duo, an Artist-in-Residence program will be launched in 2010 in the Don Wright Faculty of Music, thanks to the commitment of a group of alumnae who studied with Parsons and Poole. It is fitting recognition for the couple that, due to their own prestige, attracted other accomplished teachers and students to Western.
Don Wright Faculty of Music professor Leslie Kinton and dean of the Glenn Gould School at The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto James Anagnoson, Canada’s pre-eminent piano duo today, studied with Parsons and Poole in Toronto after they left Western. On April 16, the duo will perform at 8 p.m. in the Paul Davenport Theatre as the first in a series of events to honour the earlier duo and raise awareness about the Parsons-Poole Legacy Project.
The project will give students an opportunity to study with musicians who bring the same level of acclaim and expertise as Parsons and Poole. These students will follow in the footsteps of such performers as baritone Victor Braun, who began his singing career under Poole’s direction in Gilbert and Sullivan productions.
The goal is to raise $500,000 in an endowed fund through Foundation Western so the Parsons and Poole legacy will continue forever.
They came to London in 1948 to teach at the Western Ontario Music Conservatory, Music Teachers’ College and Department of Music at Western. Already well known, the pair joined the staff two years after Alfred Rose, Gustav Mahler’s nephew. Over the next few years, the three organizations evolved, each focusing on a different level of music education. As J.R.W. Gwynne-Timothy wrote in his Western’s First Century: “The concerts of the well-known piano duo, Clifford Poole and his wife Margaret Parsons, carried far and wide the name of music at Western as public relations emissaries for the college.”
“At a time when culture was in its infancy in this country, the Parsons-Poole duo piano team who performed internationally and had Columbia Artists as their agent, brought prestige, stature and glamour to a small provincial music school,” says Dorothy Hollingsworth, BA’56. “Their legacy is still felt by those of us who knew and appreciated what they did for so many.”
“All major music schools maintain a robust schedule of visiting artists and scholars, and also support residencies,” says Dean Robert Wood. “This is especially important for schools such as the Don Wright Faculty of Music that are situated away from a major urban centre. They are a key element in offering our students the best university experience and education.”
The benefits of the Parsons-Poole Legacy Project will go beyond the music faculty, providing opportunities for inter-disciplinary scholarship and cultural enrichment for the community. This is a fitting continuation of the kind of projects the duo undertook while in London. They composed and arranged piano music for young players, and their Parsons-Poole Festival Piano Series and Poole’s many pedagogical piano pieces remain favourites. The pair also established a community concert series and toured many Ontario towns and cities, often with students to showcase their talents and gain experience in performing.
“They were leading-edge musicians, and totally dedicated,” says Eleanor Honey, BA’56. “Margaret was a fine mentor to me. She was a sensitive musician, a dear friend and excellent teacher. She prepared me to be able to study with Adele Marcus at the Juilliard School. This project is a way I can return the legacy I received from the Pooles and Western to future musicians in this country.”
Anagnoson and Kinton have chosen repertoire performed by Parsons and Poole for the concert April 16. The program includes Variations on a Theme of Haydn by Johannes Brahms; Dvorak’s Selections from the Slavonic Dances; Suite No. 1 by Arensky and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue.
Tickets can be purchased in advance through Orchestra London’s box office at 519-679-8778. Only cash will be accepted at the door.
Ticket prices are $25 each or $15 for students, and with a small number of $75 meet-the-artists reception tickets are available. Dinner ($60 including concert ticket) and hotel accommodation ($109) packages are also available through Windermere Manor at 519-858-1414, ext. 430.
More information is available at https://www.music.uwo.ca/about/parsonsPoole.html.