Ivan Romanoff

Ivan Romanoff (8 March 1914 – 14 March 1997) was a Canadian conductor, violinist, arranger, and composer. For three decades he led the "Ivan Romanoff Orchestra and Chorus" on a variety of radio and television programs for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, on commercial recordings, and in live concerts throughout North America. As a composer he wrote a number of jingles for Canadian television and radio and incidental music for several television movies produced by the CBC. He also composed a number of songs that were written in a variety of national styles.

Born Ivan Pezhuk in Toronto, Romanoff was the son of Ukrainian immigrants. As a child he performed in a mandolin orchestra and was a violin pupil of Alexander Chuhaldin, Chris Dafeff, Broadus Farmer, and Kathleen Parlow at the Toronto Conservatory of Music. He began playing the violin in a number of radio orchestras conducted by Chuhaldin in the early 1930s and was at the same time actively performing in Toronto with Stanley St John's dance band. Soon thereafter he appeared in the Promenade Symphony Concerts and he became active as a violinist with various orchestras at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He was also heard as a soloist on the CBC programs Sixteen Men and a Harp, Gypsy Crossroads, and Russian Ensemble. From 1943-1946 he was a conductor, arranger, and performer for the Royal Canadian Navy musical revue Meet the Navy.

After World War II, Romanoff entered the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague where he studied from 1947-1949. His teachers there included Milo Dolenzil (composition), Jindřich Feld (violin), and Václav Talich (conducting). At the 1947 Prague Spring Festival he conducted the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in performances of works by Barbara Pentland, Harry Somers, and John Weinzweig.

...
Wikipedia