Peter Zvankin

Peter Zvankin played clarinet 1903-06 in the Russian Army Orchestra then moved in 1906 to Winnipeg, working in the textile business and pursuing music as an avocation. His compositions, the earliest of which dated from 1934, are all unpublished. They include the orchestral works Cloudy Skies (ca 1951) and Poem (1950). The latter was played by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in 1951 and again in 1974 in the presence of the 95-year-old composer. He wrote ceremonial pieces for Queen Elizabeth II and President Kennedy, a hymn - "God Guard Thee Newfoundland" (1949), and songs in English, Hebrew, and Yiddish. The Catalogue of Canadian Composers lists his works to 1951. His papers are held in the archives of the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada.