Women’s Musical Club of Toronto: A History of Passionate Music-Makers

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While women today have ample opportunity to perform music professionally, this wasn’t always the case. Dr. Robin Elliot, a musicologist at the University of Toronto and author of Counterpoint to a City: A History of the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto explains that in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, women were discouraged from playing music in public.

Founded in 1898, the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto began as an outlet for women to get together and play music privately, without social stigma. “Quite a few of the women involved in the Women’s Musical Club at the start were married to men who were quite prominent in society, in business, and in other fields of activity. …It would have been an affront to these men’s standing in society to have their wife perform in public,” Elliot explains. The club provided women who aspired to perform at a high level, with the opportunity to play concerts “without the social stigma of appearing on stage, in public, for pay.”

Throughout the First and Second World Wars, the club held various events—such as charity concerts and fundraisers—to support the war effort. Following a brief cessation of activities at the end of the Second World War, the WMCT restarted with an emphasis on professional concerts. “By that time, it was more accepted for women to perform in public, so there was no longer the need to have this outlet for women to perform in private,” Elliot explains.

Even before the war, though, the club had gained a reputation for spotting gifted young artists before their careers had taken off and supporting them—either with scholarships, performance opportunities, or both. In 1936, contralto Marian Anderson first appeared with the WMCT, returning in 1937. Glenn Gould also made an early career appearance at the club in 1953, two months before his 21^st birthday.

Every three years, the club awards a young musician embarking on their career the Career Development Award consisting of a $25,000 cash prize, recital opportunities with the club, as well as an appearance with the CBC.

Marmen Quartet
Photo: Marco Borggreve

And every year, the club presents winners of the Banff International String Quartet Competition. On March 13, this tradition brings the Marmen Quartet—one of two quartets who won first prize in the 2019 competition—to Toronto’s Walter Hall. The U.K.-based quartet will perform string quartets by Haydn, Debussy and Bartók, as well as a work by New Zealand-based composer Salina Fischer.