Howard Mawson

Mawson, Howard

Howard (Allan) Mawson. Baritone, actor, b Toronto 23 May 1920, d 28 Mar 2004. Howard Mawson studied with Ruth Cross-Vanderpott, 1943-51 at the Hambourg Conservatory and 1951-8 privately, and with Irene Jessner at the Royal Conservatory of Music in 1959. He was co-founder (1943) with his father, Frederick Mawson, of the Toronto Light Opera Association, which mounted productions of Gilbert & Sullivan operettas until 1955. He also sang with the Eaton Operatic Society. Mawson sang in light opera at the Stratford Festival (1960-5) and with the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Toronto (from 1967 until the 1990s) in such character roles as Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S. Pinafore, the Major General in The Pirates of Penzance and Bunthorne in Patience. He also sang minor roles in the Canadian Opera Company's La Traviata and Deirdre in 1966 and performed for the St. Lawrence Centre in Romeo and Juliet. For the Shaw Festival, he appeared in Too True To Be Good in 1974. He was also part of the Guelph Spring Festival in 1976. Mawson was baritone soloist 1952-89 at St Andrew's United Church, Toronto. He married the mezzo-soprano Elizabeth Burlington (Mawson).