William Stevens

William (Jervis) Stevens, pianist, teacher (born 6 January 1921 in Montréal, QC, of American parents; died 1997). B.Mus. (McGill) 1943. Stevens studied piano with Germaine Malépart 1941-7 and Yvonne Hubert after 1948, graduating from the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal in 1949. Following the Second World War (when he toured with Meet the Navy), he studied composition with Claude Champagne. He made his Montréal debut in 1950 at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and his New York debut at Town Hall. He was the soloist in 1958 of Violet Archer's Piano Concerto on radio with the CBC Symphony Orchestra. In 1960 he received the Harriet Cohen Commonwealth Medal. After many appearances in the USA and Canada he made a Carnegie Hall debut on 28 January 1962. He appeared regularly on Canadian radio and TV, giving many concerts for children as host on the CBC TV series 'Let's Talk Music' (1961-74). He was soloist with the Toronto Symphony in 1977 and the same year appeared with Anna Russell for one of the CBC TV 'Musicamera' series. He became a teacher at the École normale de musique in 1961 and at the École Vincent d'Indy in 1967, and taught 1978-88 at the Université de Montréal. He adjudicated at many competition festivals.