Donna Grescoe

Grescoe, Donna
Grescoe, Donna. Violinist, b Winnipeg 17 Nov 1927. She began playing the violin at five and appeared in vaudeville at Winnipeg's Beacon Theatre at eight. Studies followed with George Bornoff in Winnipeg and in 1938 at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago on a $5000 scholarship. Assisted by a trust fund established by Winnipeg citizens after her formal debut, 1 Oct 1946, at the Civic Auditorium, she studied in New York with Michel Piastro. She made her New York debut 3 Feb 1947 at Town Hall and performed 30 Jan 1948 at Carnegie Hall. Though based in New York, she toured Canada, accompanied by Leopold Mittman, and performed with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the TSO (16 Dec 1949), the CSM (MSO) and the Promenade Symphony (7 Jun 1951). Frustrated by the lack of opportunities for a concert violinist, she began nightclub work in 1953. She also performed at the 1955 CNE, on Ed Sullivan's TV show 'Toast of the Town' (from New York, 4 Sep 1955), and on CBC TV's 'Showtime' (1956). She gave her last solo performance in 1959 and returned in 1962 to Winnipeg. She was a member 1974-9 of the Winnipeg SO, then she spent a year in Boston as the administrative assistant to George Bornoff in his Foundation for the Advancement of String Education. Returning to Winnipeg, Grescoe was a founding member of the Manitoba Conservatory of Music and Arts, where she taught until 1988. In that year she moved to Vancouver, where she has continued to teach privately.

Author S. Roy Maley

Bibliography

Cook, Lyn. The Little Magic Fiddler (Toronto 1951)

Godfrey, Stephen. 'A "genius" in 1948, Grescoe now has no regrets,' Toronto Globe and Mail, 27 Sep 1986