Albert Pratz

Albert Pratz (13 May 1914 – 28 March 1995) was a Canadian violinist, conductor, composer, and music educator. He was awarded the Canadian Centennial Medal in 1967. His compositional output was modest and consists of only instrumental works. Some of his compositions, such as Melanie Waltz (1956) and A Tango (1957), were recorded by the CBC Symphony Orchestra; of which he was concertmaster from 1953-1961. He worked in the same capacity for the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra from 1966–1969 and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1970-1979. He was also active as a teacher, both privately and at a number of universities, and made recordings as both a violinist and conductor.

Born in Toronto, Pratz studied in his native city with Broadus Farmer and Luigi von Kunits. In the summers of the early 1930s he was a pupil of Mischa Mischakoff in the United States. In 1933 he studied with Michel Piastro in the USA, and in 1936-1937 he studied under William Primrose in Europe.

Pratz started his career playing in a radio orchestra for the CFRB with conductor Alexander Chuhaldin in 1929. Throughout the 1930s he played in various orchestras for the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission and CBC Radio. From 1933 to 1941 he played in the first violin section of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. In 1937 he made his solo debut at the Promenade Symphony Concerts performing the Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto under the baton of Reginald Stewart. He served as the conductor of the CBC's orchestra in Winnipeg from 1940 to 1943.

...
Wikipedia