“Winnipeg’s grande dame and beloved musical matriarch, pianist and teacher Thelma Wilson, celebrates her 100th birthday on April 12,” writes Holly Harris in Tuesday’s (4/2) Winnipeg Free Press (Canada). “Members of her equally accomplished clan … are flocking here… to help mark the auspicious occasion. Thelma Wilson … is regarded as the matriarch of Winnipeg’s music community…. Wilson … retired only seven years ago…. Wilson [was] a collaborative pianist of note, accompanying school choirs…. She met her future husband, lyric baritone J. Kerr Wilson, while accompanying Gilbert & Sullivan productions at her school. [Among] their four children [are] Canadian cellist Eric Wilson, a co-founder of the Emerson String Quartet … and Kerrine Wilson, a local pianist, organist and teacher.” While growing up, “Eric, Kerrine and Victoria, B.C.-based violinist son Carlisle, a former Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra member … formed their own chamber group, The Wilson Trio, and would fine-tune their repertoire in their bedrooms while their mother taught downstairs…. Her granddaughter [is] New York City-based conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson … who … travels the world to lead orchestras…. Another granddaughter, Tiffany Wilson, teaches locally and serves as president for the Canadian Federation of Music Teachers Association.”
Posted April 5, 2019
