Taras Gabora

Gabora, Taras

Taras (Daniel) Gabora. Violinist, teacher, b Yellow Creek, Sask, 23 Apr 1932; AMM 1952, Reifeprüfung (Vienna Academy) 1956. He studied at the University of Manitoba with Richard Seaborn, at the Paris Cons 1952-3 with René Benedetti, in Vienna 1953-7 with Ernst Morawec, and in Amsterdam 1957-8 with Szymon Goldberg. (He worked later - 1969 - with Yuri Jankelevich in Salzburg.) In 1956, on graduating from the Vienna Academy of Music, he received the Austrian Grand Prize.

After settling in Montreal in 1962 Gabora played in various orchestras and founded the Gabora String Quartet (1964-8), which performed works of François Morel, Clermont Pépin, Michel Perrault, and others. In 1968 he also founded the Groupe baroque de Montréal with Gaston Germain, an ensemble which varied in size in relation to the works performed.

In 1977 Gabora established Les Jeunes Solistes de Montréal, a group of 16, drawn mainly from his pupils at the CMM, where he began teaching in 1964; a 1978 Austrian tour by the ensemble was the subject of a CBC TV documentary. Gabora also taught 1962-4 at McGill University and 1972-4 at the JMC Orford Art Centre. Among his pupils are Martin Chalifour, Martin Foster, Françoise Morin, and Ann and Lucie Robert.

Gabora has performed frequently on CBC radio and TV and in concerts in Canada, the USA, and Europe. Between 1977 and 1980 he made several tours, notably in Greece and Italy. After 1980 he began to pursue his career mainly in the USA. In 1974 he made an LP with his wife, the soprano Gaelyne Gabora.

See also Discography for George Zukerman.