George Lambert

Lambert, George

George (James) Lambert. Baritone, teacher, b Long Preston, Yorkshire, England, 17 Dec 1900, d Toronto 13 Sep 1971. He was a choir boy in Ribblesdale but began adult voice studies after World War I with Frederic Lord, singing in oratorio and playing soccer professionally. In the mid-1920s he studied in Rome with Alfredo Martino and made his operatic debut there as Giorgio Germont in La Traviata. Returning to England, he was coached by Sir Henry Wood and sang in public and on the BBC. He followed Lord to Brantford, Ont, for further study and moved briefly to New York.

In 1932, after an engagement with a CPR concert party at Banff, Alta, Lambert joined the teaching staff of the TCM; he taught there until his death, and served 1938-9 as president of the ORMTA. During the 1930s and early 1940s he continued to sing in public (eg, frequently with the TSO, and 1938-45 as the Christus in Sir Ernest MacMillan's annual presentations of Bach's St Matthew Passion). His large, flexible voice easily accommodated English, Italian, French, and German opera, as well as song and oratorio. One of his last assignments was the role of Cathva in the premiere (CBC radio, 20 Apr 1946) of Willan's Deirdre.

After 1946 Lambert devoted himself entirely to teaching. His pupils, many of whom have had international careers, included Léonard Bilodeau, Jean Bonhomme, Pierre Boutet, Victor Braun, John Dodington, Audrey Farnell, Don Garrard, Robert Goulet, Doreen Hume, Gwenlynn Little, Phyllis Mailing, Ermanno Mauro, Joan Maxwell, David Mills, Peter Milne, Bernard Turgeon, Jon Vickers, Alan Woodrow, and Lesia Zubrack Romanoff.