Glenn Kruspe

Kruspe, Glenn

Glenn (Clarence) Kruspe. Organist, conductor, composer, b Tavistock, near Stratford, Ont, 25 Jan 1909, d Cambridge, Ont, 21 Nov 1983; ATCM 1931, ARCT 1935, ARCO 1935, B MUS (Toronto) 1940, D MUS (Toronto) 1949, hon FRCCO 1975. He studied organ and theory at the Royal College of Music in London with Sir Ernst Bullock. He further studied at the Toronto Conservatory of Music, the Royal Conservatory of Music, and at the University of Toronto with Charles Peaker and Healey Willan. He was organist-choir director at Brantford's Wesley United Church 1929-33, and 1933-60 at Zion United Church in Kitchener. In 1950 he attended the conducting workshop of Pierre Monteux, in Maine.

In 1945, Kruspe became the first conductor of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra (KWSO), of which he was also one of the founders; he was succeeded by Frédéric Pohl in 1960. Kruspe conducted Lois Marshall, Margaret Stilwell and the KWSO in 1951 in the opening of the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium. Kruspe also led the Kitchener-Waterloo Philharmonic Choir 1941-60; under his direction the choir became the region's main oratorio ensemble. Although his output as a composer was quite limited, he wrote a string quartet (1940), a symphony (in C sharp minor, 1947; premiered by the KWSO 1948); and songs, carols and anthems, the latest being a chorale prelude for organ published by Waterloo Music in 1981.