Fonds F2756 - Mary Munn fonds

Mary Elizabeth Munn, 1909-1991, was born blind in Montreal, Quebec and was educated there, including attendance at Weston School. In 1926, she won the Gold Medal for Canada in Pianoforte from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. In London, England she studied at the Royal Academy of Music, 1926-1929, and the Tobias Matthay Pianoforte School, 1929-1931.

She made her debut as a concert pianist in London and Montreal in 1931, Berlin in 1935 and New York in 1937. She presented recitals all over North Ameica and Europe. She taught at Mount Royal College Conservatory of Music in Calgary, Alberta from 1953 to 1965 and earned a Master of Music degree (M.Mus.) form the New England Conservatory of Music in 1967. She joined the Calgary Conservatory of Music as Assistant Director in 1967, earned a Doctor of Music Arts degree (D.M.A.) from Boston University in 1973 and served as Director of the Calgary Conservatory from 1973 to 1983.

She rejoined the Mount Royal Conservatory of Music in 1983 and taught there until her death in 1991. She was inducted into the Canadian National Institute for the Blind Hall of Fame, and made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1983, and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Lethbridge in 1991.

For further information see The Light in the Night / Nadine Mackenzie. -- Calgary : McQuhaes of Canada, 1981.