Joseph Pach

Pach, Joseph

Joseph Pach. Violinist, b Toronto 8 Jan 1928; Artist Diploma (Toronto) 1947, honorary LL D (Saint Thomas) 1988, honorary D LITT (New Brunswick) 1993. A pupil of Chris (Christoff) Dafeff at the Toronto Conservatory of Music (Royal Conservatory of Music) 1933-45, Pach made his professional debut at six and had won three gold medals at the CNE by the time he was twelve. He studied 1945-50 with Kathleen Parlow at the University of Toronto and continued to perform throughout his student years. After his 1947 Toronto Symphony Orchestra debut playing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto Pach appeared with the TSO again in 1975 and 1977. He was soloist with orchestras across Canada including the CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra, the CBC Winnipeg Orchestra and the New Brunswick Symphony Orchestra. In 1965 he toured the Atlantic Provinces with the Halifax Symphony Orchestra. In 1954 he married the pianist Arlene Nimmons (Pach). As a duo they won a prize at the Ninth International West German Radio Networks Competition in Munich, then adopted the name Duo Pach. In 1961 they spent four months in London on a Canada Council fellowship and made their BBC debut in the Respighi Sonata. Their Wigmore Hall debut in 1963 was followed by performances in Edinburgh, Frankfurt, and Dublin. A cross-Canada tour followed in the spring of 1964. Appointed musicians-in-residence at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton in 1964, the Pachs have performed frequently in that city and have toured in Canada and played for CBC broadcasts. They commissioned and premiered (at the Charlottetown Festival, 1967) Jacques Hétu'sDouble Concerto and performed the work with the National Arts Centre Orchestra on tour in the Maritimes in 1973. Pach was a founder of the University of New Brunswick Pach String Quartet (Brunswick String Quartet) and remained a member until its dissolution in 1989. He was a co-founder of the annual University of New Brunswick Chamber Music and All that Jazz Festival (1966-83). Pach is an experienced teacher and is in demand as an adjudicator.