Frances Marr Adaskin

Adaskin, Frances Marr

Frances (Alice) Adaskin (b Marr). Pianist, b Ridgetown, Ont, 23 Aug 1900, d Vancouver 8 Mar 2001. Frances Marr was a pupil of Paul Wells at the TCM and, in the summers of 1930 and 1931, of Céline Chailley-Richez in Paris. In 1926 she married the violinist Harry Adaskin, with whom she had formed a duo in 1923. The couple premiered several Canadian works (listed in Adaskin, Harry), and performed Canadian music abroad, as well as touring Canada 1944-54 and performing for CBC radio.

Frances Marr Adaskin appeared as duo-recitalist or guest pianist with many leading instrumentalists and singers, eg, Esther Glazer, Frances James, Boris Hambourg, the Hart House Quartet, John Loban, Oscar Natzke, Kathleen Parlow, Hans-Karl Piltz, Albert Steinberg, Ernesto Vinci, and Cornelius Ysselstyn. She also gave piano-duo recitals with Robert Rogers and Dale Reubart respectively. Frances Marr Adaskin was named a Member of the Order of Canada in 1976. In 1991 the Adaskins were retired and living in Vancouver.