Camille Bernard

Bernard, Camille

Camille Bernard. Soprano, teacher, actress, b Joliette, Que, 25 Feb 1898, d Montreal, 16 Jul 1984. After a year (1907) in Paris she began studying singing in Montreal with Béatrice La Palme and Salvator Issaurel. The Club musicale des dames de Québec invited her to perform on several occasions, the first in 1917, and in 1923 offered her a bursary to study in Paris where, ca 1924, she obtained the diploma of the professional union Maîtres du chant français. She later completed her training in France with Pauline Donalda, the famous diseuse Yvette Guilbert, and others. She sang in Paris theatres and with operetta troupes in Monte Carlo, Le Touquet, and Vichy. At the Casino in Vichy she gave a recital which the Lyon républicain (26 Aug 1927) deemed 'exceptionally attractive in its program and highly artistic in its performance'.

In Montreal in 1929 she founded the Théâtre des petits, a school of diction and music which presented a program of the same name on radio station CKAC, and shortly afterwards the École nouvelle, which gave courses for children with language difficulties. These two establishments later merged to form the Institut Camille-Bernard. She made a 78 of the songs 'Hum Humm' and 'La mort du mari' (HMV-263158). She appeared in the role of Mme Tassy in the film Kamouraska.