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The Canadian-born soprano and teacher, Gaelin [Gaelyne] Gabora (b Craig), studied at Notre Dame Academy in Charlottetown (PEI, Canada). She left home at the age of 15 or 16 to go to London and study with Helena Issep, and at the Guildhall School of Music, England (1953-1956), and graduated with honours from the Vienna Academy (1956-1959). Her teachers included Audrey Farnell, Erik Werba, Paula Koehler, Helen Issep, Bernard Diamant (1961-1968), and Pierre Bernac (1971-1973).
Gaelin Gabora made her operatic debut in 1966, at the Mozartsaal in Vienna. In Canada she appeared widely, including with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Groupe Baroque and Musica Camerata (both Montreal); the Victoria International Festival and JMC Orford Festival, and sang on CBC radio and television. She also performed in the USA and Europe, eg, with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, and Milan Radio Symphony Orchestra, and she participated in the Barcelona International, Moscow Winter Nights, and Ravel (France) festivals. In 1965 on CBC radio she premiered Kelsey Jones' Songs of Innocence, which were composed for her. In 1972 she gave the first Canadian performance of Dmitri Shostakovich's Vocal Instrumental Suite. With her husband, the violinist Taras Gabora, and the pianist John Newmark, she recorded music of Heitor Villa-Lobos, Hovhaness, Joseph Marx, Murray Adaskin, and Johannes Brahms (1974, CBC). She also recorded Alexander Brott's Songs of Contemplation with the McGill Chamber Orchestra (1967, CBC), Georg Frideric Handel's Crudel tiranno amor and Purcell's The Plaint from the Fairy Queen with the Groupe baroque de Montréal (ca 1977, RCI), and for Melodia (Moscow). In 1996 she recorded two CD's of lieder with the Italian pianist Mario delli Ponti (LoveLieder).
The Gaboras moved to the USA in 1980, and Gaelin continued to be active in performance, recording, and touring, concentrating on lieder, solo or chamber work, and contemporary music. She performed with the Borodin and Aeolian string quartets, and numerous mixed chamber ensembles, and was a founding member of the Trio Tre Musici. She was professor emeritus at the St Louis Conservatory, and also taught at the Johannesen International School of the Arts and the Incontri Nazionale di Musica, Italy. Gabora gave master-classes in North America and Europe, as well as in Tokyo and Beijing. She taught at the Oberlin-at-Casalmaggiore summer festival in Italy, and privately in Oberlin, Ohio. She continued some activities in Canada; for example, the Gaboras commissioned Epithalamion for soprano and violin, by Sylvia Rickard (also a Canadian); they premiered the piece in Winnipeg. In 1996, Gaelin Gabora was a member of the jury for the CMC competition.
Gaelin Gabora was awarded the International Schubert Prize (Moscow, 1979) and the Living Images of Chamber Music International Prize (University of Milan, 1989). Recognizing her stature in the field of lieder performance, McGill University offers the Gaelyne Gabora Memorial Scholarship Fund for Outstanding Interpreters of the Art Song. |
