Canadian Music Trade - August/September 2020 | Page 19

RIP
Hans-Karl Piltz:
Musician, Professor
& Early Music
Vancouver Co-Founder
Hans-Karl Piltz, the celebrated musician,
professor, and co-founder
of Early Music Vancouver, passed
away in April at the age of 96.
After serving in the U.S. Army during
WWII, Piltz became the principal violist
of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He
eventually moved to Vancouver in 1959 after
accepting a position at the University of
British Columbia’s Department of Music. In
1970, along with David Skulski, Ray Nurse,
Jon Washburn, and Cuyler Page, Piltz created
HANS-KARL PILTZ CONDUCTING THE UBC SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
what was then known as the Vancouver
Society for Early Music to foster interest in medieval, renaissance, and baroque music. In its early days, the Society sponsored concerts by local
musicians as well as international luminaries such as harpsichordist Gustav Leonhardt and recorder player Frans Brüggen. Piltz remained a regular
at EMV concerts and a donor until his final days.
Piltz was also a beloved professor at UBC, teaching viola and mentoring generations of students who have gone on to have successful careers.
Joining the faculty in 1959, he helped transform the small music department into the UBC School of Music, founding the UBC Symphony
Orchestra and directing it from 1959 to 1970. He was also one of the founders of the UBC Collegium Musicum in the mid-1960s, together
with violinist John Sawyer.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE UBC SCHOOL OF MUSIC COLLECTION
Fort McMurray’s Campbell’s Music Closing After 44 Years
The region of Wood Buffalo, AB,
which includes Fort McMurray,
is sadly losing its only musical
instruments store, Campbell’s Music,
which has been in business for 44 years. Murray
and Donna Campbell first opened the store in
1976. Current owner Mike Allen, who is also a
former Alberta MLA and now a city councillor,
bought the business in 1993.
“This decision has been a long time
coming… We just kept hanging on, but it was
a culmination of things that kept happening
that made us decide to close,” Allen told local
newspaper Fort McMurray Today, referencing
a series of hardships to face the town in recent
years, including the 2014 oil price crash, the
May 2016 wildfires, the COVID-19 pandemic, MIKE ALLEN
and April’s flooding.
“We have a large and thriving music community in Wood Buffalo and it is our hope that it continues to thrive for many years to come,”
Allen wrote on Facebook on July 11 th , announcing that Aug. 31 st would be the store’s final day of business. “I would like to express our sincere
gratitude to all of our friends in the arts community that have so faithfully supported us throughout these years. We all have a huge passion for
what we do here and it is those relationships that we will miss most! I would also like to acknowledge my good friend Murray Campbell for his
vision and mentorship that made this incredible journey to continue what [he] started possible!”
CANADIAN MUSIC TRADE 19