Roy Royal

Royal, Roy

Roy Royal. Baritone, teacher, producer, administrator, critic; b Edmonton 6 Mar 1895, d Montreal 5 Mar 1968. He studied voice in Edmonton with Eva Gagné-Saint-Germain, a pupil of Guillaume Couture and Romain Bussine. He also studied 1919-21 at the Paris Cons with A.L. Hettich and 1921-4 in Vienna, Milan, and Rome. In 1924 he entered the Paris Schola Cantorum as resident baritone, thus ensuring an opportunity to study and perform the classical repertoire.

In 1926 Royal began teaching in Paris, concurrently performing widely in France, Belgium, and England and occasionally in Canada. During World War II he was interned 1940-4 at St-Denis. Though his health had been undermined, he returned to his career. In 1945 he resumed teaching and began writing music criticism in Paris for the weekly La Bataille and the daily L'Époque.

Claude Champagne urged Royal to return to Canada, but it was not until 1951 that he settled in Montreal to teach voice and elocution at the CMM and the École Vincent-d'Indy. Colette Boky, Claude Corbeil, Bruno Laplante, and Sylvia Saurette were among his pupils. He wrote criticism 1951-4 for the weekly Le Petit Journal prior to joining the CBC International Service as director of its recording program (RCI). He was head of music 1959-64 for the CBC French network.