Avrahm Galper

Galper, Avrahm

Avrahm (Abraham) Galper. Clarinetist, teacher, writer, b Edmonton, 16 Aug 1921. He lived in Palestine until 1946, studying clarinet there at 17 with Tzvi Tzipine and later in New York with Simeon Bellison and in London at the RAM with Frederick Thurston. He became a member of the TSO in 1947, serving 1952-6 and 1958-73 as principal and 1973-9 as co-principal. (He retired in 1979.) He also played with the CBC Symphony Orchestra (principal, 1951-64) and the COC. He has appeared in chamber and solo recitals, performed on CBC radio, and recorded Andrew Twa'sSerenade for clarinet and strings (1952, RCI 86), short standard pieces with the Hart House Orchestra (1965, for the CTL), Weinzweig'sQuartet for Four Clarinets and other works for the series New for Now II, Clarinet (1971, Dom S69004), and Bartók's Contrasts (1974, CBC SM-240).

Galper has written a two-volume instruction book, Clarinet for Beginners (Boosey & Hawkes 1970, 1976), Clarinet Scales and Arpeggios (Boosey & Hawkes 1978 rev 1987), led clinics in Canada and the USA, and contributed articles to The Clarinet. He has arranged works by Dvořák, Geminiani and Grieg for clarinet and piano and Prokofiev's Overtureon Hebrew Themes for clarinet, violin and piano. He began teaching at the RCMT in 1951 and at the University of Toronto in 1962, and retained both positions in 1990. He also taught 1988-9 at Wilfrid Laurier University and was visiting professor 1989-90 at the University of Indiana. His pupils have included James Campbell, John Rapson, Gwyll Williams, Michael Rusinek and members of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the National Ballet of Canada orchestra, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. Galper's former pupils and friends established a scholarship in his name at the RCMT in 1980.