Meet the Maestro: Boris Brott’s Archives at McMaster University

“I feel such a strong connection with the city of Hamilton, not just because I live here, but because it has been the epicenter of so much of my creative life, both on stage and off…McMaster University is very special to me, as I received my honorary doctorate from there in 1988, something of which I am very proud.”

This exhibition is a window into the personal and professional worlds of Maestro Boris Brott. Through more than 1,000 photographs, correspondence, clippings, radio scripts, manuscripts of poems, scrapbooks, concert programmes, awards and audio and video tapes of performances, the substantial archives at the McMaster Library reflect Brott’s life as a musician, conductor, educator and cultural ambassador. They have a place alongside local and international archival collections at the Library, such as those of Jackie Washington, Klaus Pringsheim and Franz Liszt.

A poignant life story of a remarkable man unfolds: photos of Boris as a child with a baton, letters of Alexander Brott and Lotte (Goetzel) Brott, a handmade birthday card sent to Brott's grandmother on behalf of Curly the dog, numerous photos of summers with the family at the cottage, Alexander Brott’s 70th birthday celebration in Montreal. Such items reveal the close family ties which were so significant in shaping Brott’s burgeoning career which started with a violin. “I started playing the violin so early in my life that I don’t remember not playing the instrument”, said Brott, at the inauguration to announce the gift of his archives to McMaster University, held on May 25, 2011. Born to Alexander and Lotte Brott in 1944, he began playing the violin when he was 3. He was a soloist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra at the age of 6 and played a Vivaldi violin concerto. Besides the influence of two professional parents, his father, Alexander Brott, a composer, conductor and violinist, and his mother, Lotte, a cellist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Brott received most of his training from two great masters – Pierre Monteux and Igor Markevitch. At the age of 14 he won a scholarship to study with Igor Markevitch in Mexico City and during that same year, won the Pan-American Conductors Competition. He completed his training at the Conservatoire de Musique in Montreal and at McGill University. At the age of 17, he became understudy to Pierre Monteux, who described Brott as “One of the finest, most serious talents I have encountered in all my years of association with young conductors”. After two years as an understudy to French Maestro Pierre Monteux, he accepted a post as conductor of Britain’s Northern Sinfonia Orchestra, Newcastle. He won the hearts of Britain’s youth. They liked him because he wasn’t stuffy and because he insisted on taking music to the people (he once moved the orchestra to a bingo hall after an outdoor concert was rained out). At 19, he was appointed Assistant Conductor to Walter Susskind with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Concurrently, from 1964-67, Brott was principal conductor for the touring company of the Royal Ballet (Covent Garden.) Here he conducted the Royal Ballet's first production of Stravinsky's "The Soldier's Tale." He won first prize and a gold medal at the sixth Dimitri Mitropoulos International Music Competition in 1968 and served 1968-9 as assistant conductor to Leonard Bernstein, with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Brott was named one of Canada's Outstanding Young Men in 1969.

When Brott moved to Hamilton in 1969 he was an accomplished conductor. His name became synonymous with the cultural achievement of the City of Hamilton. He became Music Director of the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. During the next 25 years, he played a major role in the cultural transformation of the city of Hamilton. The Hamilton Philharmonic was transformed into a fully professional ensemble. Internationally renowned groups such as the Czech String Quartet, the St. Paul Woodwind Quintet and the Canadian Brass became resident in Hamilton at Brott’s invitation. In 1987, Boris was voted one of the top five Greatest Hamiltonians of all time by Hamilton Spectator readers and awarded the prestigious Order of Canada.

In Canada, Brott developed no fewer than six Canadian orchestras: Thunder Bay Symphony, Regina Symphony, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, CBC Winnipeg, Symphony Nova Scotia and served as Artistic Advisor and Founder to the newly created Symphony Nova Scotia from 1984 to 1989.

In 1988 Brott and his wife, Ardyth, founded the Boris Brott Music Festival, which has since become Canada’s largest orchestral music festival and a cultural cornerstone in Hamilton for the months of July and August The Festival is the home of Canada’s National Academy Orchestra also founded by Brott in 1989. In the same year, Brott received an honourary doctorate (LL.D) from McMaster University. He was appointed Associate Conductor of the McGill Chamber Orchestra in Montreal, which was founded by his parents Lotte and Alexander Brott. In 2000 he was appointed its Artistic Director.

In 1995 Brott became music director of the New West Symphony in Los Angeles. In June 2000, Brott received international recognition when he conducted Leonard Bernstein’s Mass for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican as part of Jubilee 2000. In 2004, he was named to the newly created position of Principal Youth and Family Conductor of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, where he has regularly been conducting student matinées and Young People’s Concerts.

In addition to enthusing music lovers, Brott is also a Motivational Speaker, giving lively presentations to business organizations and drawing comparisons between them and symphony orchestras in linking common goals of innovation and creativity.

Brott was awarded Officer of the Order of Canada in 1987 and in December 2006, he was inducted into the Order of Ontario, the province’s highest civilian decoration.

Brott is a unique individual in the music world. In Hamilton he implemented the concept of a resident musicians programme with deep roots in the educational process. He is a man who believes that every child is born with musical abilities which need to be given a chance. He is a man who once had practiced ballet, taking lessons for two years so that he would understand how to direct an orchestra accompanying a ballet. How long does it take to teach a packed audience of non-musicians to play a few bars of Ode to Joy from Beethoven's "Ninth Symphony"? Boris Brott can do it in about 10 minutes!

Exhibition

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Text by

Renu Barrett

Selection of materials by

Renu Barrett

Exhibit by

Renu Barrett and Audrie Schell

Photographs and online exhibit by

Renu Barrett