Gauthier (Ida Joséphine Phoebe) Eva

Gauthier, (Ida Joséphine Phoebe) Eva, no-table Canadian mezzo-soprano and teacher; b. Ottawa, Sept. 20, 1885; d. N.Y., Dec. 26, 1958. She began her training in Ottawa, where she had lessons in piano and harmony with J. Edgar Birch, and then in voice with Frank Buels. She gained experience as soloist at St. Patrick Church in Ottawa, and then made her professional debut at the Ottawa Basilica at the commemoration service for Queen Victoria in 1902. After pursuing her studies in Paris with Auguste-Jean Dubulle, and then with Jacques Bouhy, Emma Albani invited her to tour the British Isles with her in 1905. In 1906 she accompanied Albani on her farewell tour of Canada. In 1907 she was soloist in C. Harriss’s Coronation Mass for Edward VII at the Queen’s Hall in London. During this time, she also had vocal lessons with William Shakespeare in London. Following further studies with Giuseppe Oxilia in Milan (1907–08), she made her only stage appearance as Micaela in Pa via in 1909. From 1910 to 1914 she toured extensively as a recitalist in Southeast Asia. After making her N.Y. recital debut in 1915, she appeared regularly there in imaginative programs, which included works by Stravinsky, Schoenberg, Ravel, Bartók, Hindemith, Kern, Berlin, and Gershwin, not to mention works by lesser-known composers of the past and even non-Occidental works. From 1936 she devoted herself principally to teaching.

Bibliography

N. Turbide, Biographical Study of E. G. (1885–1958): First French-Canadian Singer of the Avant-garde (diss., Univ. of Montreal, 1986).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire