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46-604: Oscar Peterson , Jim Carrey , Gordon Pinsent , Ted Dykstra , Eddie Izzard , Martin Bragg and the Toronto Fringe Festival are just some of the individuals and companies who have graced the stages and studios of 736 Bathurst Street. The Gothic revival building is a landmark, not only in the history of Toronto but also the heritage of theatre in Canada. In addition, since March 2001, the building has been home to

92-543: A Jazz at the Philharmonic concert at Carnegie Hall . He remained Peterson's manager for most of his career. This was more than a managerial relationship; Peterson praised Granz for standing up for him and other black jazz musicians in the segregationist south US of the 1950s and 1960s. In the documentary video Music in the Key of Oscar , Peterson tells how Granz stood up to a gun-toting Southern policeman who wanted to stop

138-576: A "master" or "ace" who excels technically within any particular field or area of human knowledge—anyone especially or dazzlingly skilled at what they do. The meaning of virtuoso has its roots in the Italian usage of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, signifying an honorific term reserved for a person distinguished in any intellectual or artistic field. The term evolved with time, simultaneously broadening and narrowing in scope as interpretations went in and out of fashion and debates unraveled. Originally

184-441: A 21st-century virtuosi is primarily a performing musician. As virtuosic playing has gained popularity over the centuries, more exciting music has ingrained itself into the culture in unique ways. Many music pedagogues emphasize technique in private teaching as a way to approach modern, virtuosic repertoire. Additionally, much of classical music that becomes popular among non-musicians tends to lean into difficult, flashy styles. In

230-602: A Group. On April 22, 1978, Peterson performed in the interval act for the Eurovision Song Contest 1978 that was broadcast live from the Palais des congrès de Paris . In 1974 he added British drummer Martin Drew . This quartet toured and recorded extensively worldwide. Pass said in a 1976 interview, "The only guys I've heard who come close to total mastery of their instruments are Art Tatum and Peterson". Peterson

276-477: A band with Maynard Ferguson . He became a professional pianist, starring in a weekly radio show and playing at hotels and music halls. In his teens he was a member of the Johnny Holmes Orchestra. From 1945 to 1949 he worked in a trio and recorded for Victor Records . He gravitated toward boogie-woogie and swing with a particular fondness for Nat King Cole and Teddy Wilson . By the time he

322-536: A child, Peterson studied with Hungarian-born pianist Paul de Marky, a student of István Thomán , who was himself a pupil of Franz Liszt , so his early training was predominantly based on classical piano. But he was captivated by traditional jazz and boogie-woogie and learned several ragtime pieces. He was called "the Brown Bomber of the Boogie-Woogie". At the age of nine, Peterson played piano with

368-579: A degree of control that impressed professional musicians. For many years his piano studies included four to six hours of daily practice. Only in his later years did he decrease his practice to one or two hours daily. In 1940, at fourteen years of age, he won the national music competition organized by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation . After that victory, he dropped out of the High School of Montreal , where he played in

414-629: A lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy , and received numerous other awards and honours. He played thousands of concerts worldwide in a career lasting more than 60 years. He was called the " Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington , simply "O.P." by his friends, and informally in the jazz community, "the King of inside swing". Peterson worked in duos with Sam Jones , Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen , Joe Pass , Irving Ashby , Count Basie , and Herbie Hancock . He considered

460-482: A musician was considered a virtuoso by being an accomplished composer , theorist , or maestro , rather than a skilled performer. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the word shifted in meaning, and many musicians applied it without considering merit, sometimes to themselves. Sébastien de Brossard , in his Dictionnaire de Musique ( Paris , 1703), approached the word virtuoso by its Latin root virtu emphasizing exceptional training, especially in theory. This position

506-478: A particular art or field such as fine arts , music, singing , playing a musical instrument , or composition. This word also refers to a person who has cultivated appreciation of artistic excellence, either as a connoisseur or collector . The plural forms of virtuoso is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation virtuosos , and the feminine forms are virtuosa and virtuose . According to Music in

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552-416: Is capable of displaying feats of skill well above the average performer. Especially in music, both critics and musicians have mixed opinions on virtuosity. While the skill implied is clearly positive, musicians focused on virtuosity have been criticized for overlooking substance and emotion in favor of raw technical prowess. More commonly applied in the context of the fine arts , the term can also refer to

598-669: The Presbyterian Church in Canada . In the 1950s, as the earlier families emigrated to the suburbs, the congregation shrank. A number of strategies were tried to increase attendance: one of these was the Sunday Evening Forums, wherein the Sunday evening sermon was replaced by a panel discussion on social issues among prominent guests. Running from 1944 to 1951, noted panelists included Tim Buck , who lived nearby. The small congregation had difficulty maintaining

644-478: The RCA Thesaurus transcriptions library. Peterson also worked in duos with Sam Jones , Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen , Joe Pass , Irving Ashby , Count Basie , and Herbie Hancock . He considered the trio with Brown and Ellis "the most stimulating" and productive setting for public performances and studio recordings. In the early 1950s, he began performing with Brown and drummer Charlie Smith as

690-716: The Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts . The current building was erected in 1888 by the congregation of the Bathurst Street Wesleyan Methodist Church. The cornerstone was laid by Sir John A. Macdonald , first Prime Minister of Canada. Over the years it inspired many church congregations, eventually becoming the Bathurst Street United Church. In the 1950s, facing a dwindling congregation,

736-529: The Toronto International Film Festival . Oscar Peterson was the subject of a circulating commemorative 1 Canadian dollar coin in 2022. Virtuoso A virtuoso (from Italian virtuoso , Italian: [virˈtwoːzo] or Italian: [virtuˈoːso] ; Late Latin virtuosus ; Latin virtus ; 'virtue', 'excellence' or 'skill') is an individual who possesses outstanding talent and technical ability in

782-621: The West Indies ( Saint Kitts and Nevis and the British Virgin Islands ); His mother, Kathleen, was a domestic worker; his father, Daniel, worked as a porter for Canadian Pacific Railway and was an amateur musician who taught himself to play the organ , trumpet and piano . Peterson grew up in the neighbourhood of Little Burgundy in Montreal. It was in this predominantly black neighbourhood that he encountered

828-445: The "triviality and exhibitionist talents of the performer" voicing his opinion strongly: "The real dignity of the virtuoso rests solely on the dignity he is able to preserve for creative art; if he or she trifles and toys with this, he casts his honour away. He or she is the intermediary of the artistic idea. " In the nineteenth century, the public beliefs and attitudes surrounding virtuosity in music greatly varied. Many believed that it

874-606: The "true virtuoso", once again emphasizing theory (" der wahre Virtuose "), while describing the "highly gifted musician" (" der glückselige Musicus ") or "performer virtuoso" as having nothing more than practical facility. The concept of virtuosity today is typically associated with flashy, technical performance rather than accomplishments as a composer, theorist, etc. Modern virtuosi are known for fast, exciting works and often for using their talents in spaces like international competitions. While historical virtuosi like Niccolò Paganini and Franz Liszt were performers as well as composers,

920-521: The Advanced School of Contemporary Music in Toronto for five years during the 1960s, but it closed because touring called him and his associates away, and it did not have government funding. Peterson was influenced by Teddy Wilson , Nat King Cole , James P. Johnson , and Art Tatum , to whom many compared Peterson in later years. After his father played a record of Tatum's " Tiger Rag ", he

966-1178: The Oscar Peterson Trio. Shortly afterward Smith was replaced by guitarist Irving Ashby , who had been a member of the Nat King Cole Trio. Ashby, who was a swing guitarist, was soon replaced by Kessel. Their last recording, On the Town with the Oscar Peterson Trio , recorded live at the Town Tavern in Toronto, captured a remarkable degree of emotional as well as musical understanding among three players. When Ellis departed in 1958, they hired drummer Ed Thigpen because they felt no guitarist could compare to Ellis. Brown and Thigpen worked with Peterson on his albums Night Train and Canadiana Suite . Both left in 1965 and were replaced by bassist Sam Jones and drummer Louis Hayes (and later, drummer Bobby Durham ). The trio performed together until 1970. In 1969 Peterson recorded Motions and Emotions with orchestral arrangements of " Yesterday " and " Eleanor Rigby " by The Beatles . In

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1012-530: The Town with the Oscar Peterson Trio , recorded live at the Town Tavern in Toronto , captured a remarkable degree of emotional as well as musical understanding among three players. Peterson won eight Grammy Awards during his lifetime between 1975 and 1997. He is considered among the best jazz pianists and jazz improvisers of the twentieth century. Peterson was born in Montreal , Quebec , to immigrants from

1058-466: The Western civilization by Piero Weiss and Richard Taruskin : ..."A virtuoso was, originally, a highly accomplished musician, but by the nineteenth century the term had become restricted to performers, both vocal and instrumental, whose technical accomplishments were so pronounced as to dazzle the public." The defining element of virtuosity is the performance ability of the musician in question, who

1104-442: The area was known as Seaton Village, still outside of the Toronto city limits. After a gift of land on Bathurst Street from the son of John Strachan , the first building on this site was constructed in 1866. Following a congregational split in 1869 (when Primitive Methodists in the area formed their own congregation), this congregation continued to grow and was joined by the former Primitive Methodist congregation in 1884, following

1150-425: The building began to be rented out for concerts and plays. The building became better known as a theatre than a church. In 1985, the building became a permanent and well known theatre. The building was originally home to Bathurst Street Wesleyan Methodist Church . This congregation was an extension of Elm Street WMC, and started in 1860. In 1862, services were being conducted in a cottage on nearby Markham Street, and

1196-492: The building to George Randolph Jr. Official website 43°39′49″N 79°24′39″W  /  43.66351°N 79.41095°W  / 43.66351; -79.41095 Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson CC CQ OOnt (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. Considered a virtuoso and one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won eight Grammy Awards , as well as

1242-784: The core classical pianism from scales to preludes and fugues by Johann Sebastian Bach . He asked his students to study the music of Johann Sebastian Bach , especially The Well-Tempered Clavier , the Goldberg Variations , and The Art of Fugue , considering these piano pieces essential for every serious pianist. Among his students were pianists Benny Green and Oliver Jones . Building on Tatum's pianism and aesthetics, Peterson also absorbed Tatum's musical influences, notably from piano concertos by Sergei Rachmaninoff . Rachmaninoff's harmonizations, as well as direct quotations from his 2nd Piano Concerto , are scattered throughout many recordings by Peterson, including his work with

1288-569: The early 1990s. Although the surgery was successful, his mobility was still hampered. He then mentored the York University jazz program and was the Chancellor of the university for several years in the early 1990s. He published jazz piano etudes for practice. In 1993, a stroke weakened his left side and removed him from work for two years. During the same year, incoming prime minister Jean Chrétien , his friend and fan, offered him

1334-409: The fall of 1970, Peterson's trio released the album Tristeza on Piano . Jones and Durham left in 1970. In the 1970s Peterson formed a trio with guitarist Joe Pass and bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen . This trio emulated the success of the 1950s trio with Brown and Ellis and gave acclaimed performances at festivals. Their album The Trio won the 1974 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance by

1380-409: The jazz culture. At the age of five, Peterson began honing his skills on trumpet and piano, but a bout of tuberculosis when he was seven prevented him from playing the trumpet again, so he directed all his attention to the piano. His father was one of his first music teachers, and his sister Daisy taught him classical piano. Peterson was persistent at practicing scales and classical études . As

1426-585: The label was founded in 1973, including the soundtrack for the 1978 thriller The Silent Partner . In the 1980s he played in a duo with pianist Herbie Hancock. In the late 1980s and 1990s, after a stroke, he made performances and recordings with his protégé Benny Green . In the 1990s and 2000s he recorded several albums accompanied by a combo for Telarc . Peterson had arthritis from his youth, and in later years he had trouble buttoning his shirt. Never slender, his weight increased to 125 kg (276 lb), hindering his mobility. He had hip replacement surgery in

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1472-506: The late 18th century, people began to use the term to describe an instrumentalist or vocalist who pursued a career as a soloist. The tension about the merit of practical virtuosity started to grow at the same time and intensified in the 19th century, only to remain an open debate since then. Franz Liszt , considered one of the greatest of all virtuosos, declared that "virtuosity is not an outgrowth, but an indispensable element of music" ( Gesammelte Schriften , iv, 1855–9). Richard Wagner opposed

1518-416: The most familiar formulation of the Oscar Peterson Trio, with bassist Ray Brown and guitarist Herb Ellis . During the 1960s and 1970s Peterson made numerous trio recordings highlighting his piano performances; they reveal more of his eclectic style, absorbing influences from various genres of jazz, popular, and classical music. According to pianist and educator Mark Eisenman, some of Peterson's best playing

1564-475: The old structure, and they began to rent out the building for concerts and plays. Increasingly, the building became better known for its role as a theatre than for being a church. In 1985, the congregation finally opted to leave the building, and it now meets at nearby Trinity-St. Paul's United Church . The building then became a permanent and well-known theatre. In 2000, the United Church of Canada sold

1610-645: The position of Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario . According to Chrétien, Peterson declined the job due to ill health related to the stroke. Although he recovered some dexterity in his left hand, his piano playing was diminished, and his style relied principally on his right hand. In 1995 he returned to occasional public performances and recorded for Telarc. In 1997 he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and an International Jazz Hall of Fame Award. His friend, Canadian politician and amateur pianist Bob Rae , said, "a one-handed Oscar

1656-424: The trio from using "whites-only" taxis. In 1950, Peterson worked in a duo with double bassist Ray Brown . Two years later they added guitarist Barney Kessel . Then Herb Ellis stepped in after Kessel grew weary of touring. The trio remained together from 1953 to 1958, often touring with Jazz at the Philharmonic. By 1956, Peterson's performances were also showcased on national radio networks by Ben Selvin within

1702-457: The trio with Ray Brown and Herb Ellis "the most stimulating" and productive setting for public performances and studio recordings. In the early 1950s, he began performing with Brown and drummer Charlie Smith as the Oscar Peterson Trio. Shortly afterward Smith was replaced by guitarist Irving Ashby , who had been a member of the Nat King Cole Trio. Ashby, who was a swing guitarist, was soon replaced by Barney Kessel . Their last recording, On

1748-855: The union of Methodists across Canada. The present building (originally known as Bathurst Street Methodist Church ) was erected by the congregation in 1888 to meet the demands of the growing population, and the United Methodist presence in Toronto. The building was designed by the architectural firm of Gordon & Helliwell . In 1925, the congregation joined the new United Church of Canada and became Bathurst Street United Church . A minority of Presbyterians from St. Paul's PC (then located north of Bloor) joined, as St Paul's (which merged with Dovercourt Road PC in 1968, Chalmers in 1980, Dufferin Street PC in 1994, and closed in June 2005) remained within

1794-516: Was also defended in Johann Gottfried Walther 's Musicalisches Lexicon (1732) favoring the theorist over the performer. Johann Mattheson 's Der brauchbare Virtuoso (1720) maintained the respect for the traditional " theoretische Virtuosen " (theoretical virtuoso) but also paid tribute to the " virtuosi prattici " (performer virtuoso). Johann Kuhnau in his The Musical Charlatan ( Der musikalische Quack-Salber , 1700) defined

1840-464: Was as an understated accompanist to singer Ella Fitzgerald and trumpeter Roy Eldridge . Peterson is considered one of history's great jazz pianists. He was called the " Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington , simply "O.P." by his friends, and informally in the jazz community as "the King of inside swing". In 2021, Barry Avrich produced a documentary on Peterson's life titled Oscar Peterson: Black + White that had its world premiere at

1886-602: Was better than just about anyone with two hands." In 2003, Peterson recorded the DVD A Night in Vienna for Verve with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Ulf Wakenius , and Martin Drew. He continued to tour the U.S. and Europe, though at most one month a year, with rest between concerts. In 2007, his health declined. He canceled his plans to perform at the Toronto Jazz Festival and a Carnegie Hall all-star concert that

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1932-411: Was essential for success, while others believed it was a detriment. The celebrity status obtained by such performers was often fueled by tabloid-like rumors, mythical comparisons, and manipulative marketing tactics. On one such occasion, a London theatre critic referred to a Paganini concert as his "fifth and final concert." Purposefully presenting misinformation to gain publicity for the performers became

1978-531: Was in his 20s, he had developed a reputation as a technically brilliant and melodically inventive pianist. According to an interview with Norman Granz , he heard a radio program broadcasting from a local club while taking a cab to the Montreal airport . He was so impressed that he told the driver to take him to the club so he could meet the pianist. Granz had seen Peterson before this but was underwhelmed. In 1949 he introduced Peterson in New York City at

2024-773: Was intimidated and disillusioned, quitting the piano for several weeks. "Tatum scared me to death," said Peterson, adding that he was "never cocky again" about his ability at the piano. Tatum was a model for Peterson's musicianship during the 1940s and 1950s. Tatum and Peterson became good friends, although Peterson was always shy about being compared to Tatum and rarely played the piano in Tatum's presence. Peterson also credited his sister—a piano teacher in Montreal who also taught several other Canadian jazz musicians—with being an important teacher and influence on his career. Under his sister's tutelage, Peterson expanded into classical piano training and broadened his range while mastering

2070-505: Was open to experimental collaborations with jazz musicians such as saxophonist Ben Webster , trumpeter Clark Terry , and vibraphonist Milt Jackson . In 1961, the Peterson trio with Jackson recorded the album Very Tall . His solo recordings were rare until Exclusively for My Friends ( MPS ), a series of albums that were his response to pianists such as Bill Evans and McCoy Tyner . He recorded for Pablo , led by Norman Granz, after

2116-555: Was to be given in his honour. Peterson died on December 23, 2007, of kidney failure at his home in Mississauga , Ontario. Peterson was married four times. He had seven children with three of his wives. He smoked cigarettes and a pipe and often tried to break the habit, but he gained weight every time he stopped. He loved to cook and remained overweight throughout his life. Peterson taught piano and improvisation in Canada, mainly in Toronto. With associates, he started and headed

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