Lloyd Blackman

Lloyd Blackman studied violin in Winnipeg with John Waterhouse and George Bornoff, obtaining his LRSM at 16; he later worked with Theodor Pashkus in New York (violin), Allard de Ridder in Ottawa and Montreal (conducting), and at the University of Michigan (1948-9, 1959-60) with Ottokar Čadek (violin). He played from the age of 15 in CBC orchestras, travelling shows, ballet orchestras, etc, and was principal of the CBC Winnipeg Orchestra 1947-9 and of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra 1948-9. In 1948-9 he was an instrumental instructor in the Winnipeg schools and in 1950 became music director at Regina Central Collegiate Institute. He conducted the Saskatchewan Golden Jubilee Chorus 1954-5 and wrote a musical (Prairie Pastel, libretto by his wife, Elisabeth Blackman, for the Regina school's 50th anniversary (1959). In 1961 Blackman became supervisor of music for the Regina high schools and the following year formed the Regina Inter-Collegiate Choir and Orchestra, which sang in Vancouver, Calgary, Montreal (Expo 67), London (1972), and Minneapolis and St. Paul (1974). From 1963 to 1980 he served as co-ordinator of fine arts for the Regina Board of Education and in 1968, 1971, and 1972 was the orchestral conductor for the Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts. In Regina he served as concert master and associate conductor of the Regina Symphony Orchestra and as soloist and conductor for the CBC; he also taught music education for the University of Regina and the University of Saskatchewan. Blackman moved to British Columbia in 1980, and he became conductor and music director of the Nanaimo Symphony Orchestra in 1981 and of the Delta Youth Orchestra in 1985. He also appeared as a soloist with the Nanaimo SO.