W. Knight Wilson

Wilson, W. Knight

W. (William) Knight Wilson. Conductor, teacher, violinist, b Leven, Fifeshire, Scotland, 1887, d Toronto 10 Sep 1961. A pupil of J.M. Cooper and Henri Verbrugghen at the Glasgow Atheneum (the Scottish National Academy of Music), he played in the Scottish SO under Wood, Elgar, and Richter. After his arrival in Canada in 1920 he conducted an Ottawa orchestra until 1922, then was a concertmaster in Toronto. He settled in Regina in 1923 and joined the faculty of the Regina Cons, where he became director of the string department and organized a junior orchestra. In 1923 he became conductor of a choral-orchestral ensemble which under his direction became the Regina Symphony Orchestra in 1926. He also founded the Knight Wilson String Quartet. During service 1941-5 in the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps, he organized and directed army bands across the country. Wilson returned to the Regina SO as conductor, remaining until 1955 when he began teaching violin, viola, and orchestration at the Mount Royal College in Calgary. His pupils included John Thornicroft (who conducted the Regina SO during World War II), Frans Colquhoun, and Jean Fraser.