Clayton Hare

Hare, Clayton

Hare, Clayton. Violinist, teacher, conductor, b St Catharines, Ont, 13 Jul 1909, d Calgary 11 Dec 2001. Following studies in Buffalo, in Toronto 1928-30 with Géza de Kresz at the Hambourg Conservatory, in London 1932-4 with Henri Temianka, and at the RAM 1934-9 with Rowsby Woof, he joined the faculty of Mount Allison University in 1939. In 1945 he moved to Mount Royal College in Calgary, teaching violin and conducting the College Symphony Orchestra, which in 1949 was absorbed into the newly reformed Calgary Symphony Orchestra under Hare's direction. He was dean of music 1955-65 at the University of Portland, Oregon, and taught 1965-7 at Boston University and 1967-70 at the University of Maine. He conducted the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra 1969-70. With his wife, Dorothy Swetnam, he gave duo recitals publicly and on CBC radio and in 1963 co-founded the Victoria Summer School of Music. In 1970 he returned to Calgary to teach privately, and was active as an adjudicator while operating his summer school into the 1980s. His students included Francis Chaplin, Andrew Dawes, and Betty-Jean Hagen, and others who became professional string players. Hare retired in the mid-1980s. He was a member of the ARMTA.