Maurice Solway (b Toronto 10 Mar 1908 )

Solway, Maurice. Violinist, teacher, b Toronto 10 Mar 1908. He began violin studies at 4 and entered the University of Toronto Faculty of Music at 15. He played 1923-6 in the New SO (later TSO) and 1933-49 in the TSO. He studied violin 1926-8 with Eugène Ysaÿe in Brussels and made his concert debut there in 1928. In 1947 he founded the Solway String Quartet, with Jacob Groob (and successively Charles Dobias and Berul Sugarman) as second violin, Robert Warburton (and in turn Ivan Romanoffand Eugene Hudson) as viola, and Marcus Adeney as cello. The quartet gave public and CBC concerts until 1968 and toured small Ontario towns for the Dept of Education. Its programs mixed standard repertoire with arrangements of familiar tunes, quartets by Coulthard, Gayfer, MacMillan andWeinzweig, and other works by Applebaum, Cable, Leo Smith, and Willan. With Andrés Segovia the Solway String Quartet gave the Canadian premiere (25 Jan 1952) of the Castelnuovo-Tedesco Guitar Quintet. Solway began to compose in 1956 and has produced some 40 works for solo violin or piano. Several have been published by BMI Canada, Boosey & Hawkes, and E.C. Kerby. He premiered hisViolin Concerto in Baroque Style at the RCMT 24 Nov 1988. He has also given lecture-recitals at the RCMT in 1981 and 1984 in honour of Eugène Ysaÿe.

Solway has appeared in two films: The Violin (1973), for which he composed the music and which won numerous honours, including an Academy Award nomination; and Divertimento (1974) to music of Mozart. Robert Thomas Allen's book version of The Violin, illustrated with stills from the film, is published (Toronto 1976), and the music may be heard on the LP Music from the Film The Violin and Folk Songs and Dances from around the World (1973, RCA KXL1-0029).

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