León Zuckert

Zuckert was born in Poltava, Ukraine into a Jewish family. From 1916 to 1918, Zuckert studied the violin under Boris Brodsky at the Imperial Music Society School in Poltava.^[5] During the Russian Revolution, his father was arrested and died in prison; the family moved to Poland.^[6]

As a young man in Poland, Zuckert worked in a lumberyard, and then as a violist, playing first in cafes and later in a military orchestra.^[6] He moved to Argentina, where he lived for six years, playing music for movie theatres.^[7] as well as in a symphony orchestra. He immigrated to Canada in 1929,^[5] joining family in Toronto, where he played violin in a radio orchestra for a short time.^[6]

Zuckert moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he played in the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra^[6] and in the 1930s hosted a radio show of violin and piano music, "To a Wild Rose", for the CBC (then known as the CRC, or Canadian Radio Commission).^[5] He organized a 16-piece ensemble, Los Pamperos, which he conducted on the show, arranging much of the music himself.

Zuckert later toured with a number of orchestras, stage companies and dance bands in Canada and the United States, and played with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1951 to 1956.^[6] From 1963 to 1965 and 1967–1969, he was the assistant conductor and principal violinist of the Halifax Symphony Orchestra.^[8]

In 1974 he was commissioned by the CBC to compose "Fantasia of Ukrainian Themes", which was premiered as part of the Winnipeg Centennial Festival.^[9] He was also commissioned to create an orchestra arrangement of Tevye's Hodel, to be played by an ensemble from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.^[10]

After moving about for much of his life, Zuckert retired to Toronto, where he died 29 May 1992.

• "Quintette de la Luna de Mar"^[11]
• "The Quetico" – symphonic suite film soundtrack^[12]
• Along Gypsy Trails (CD)
• "Fantasia on Ukrainian Themes"
• "In the Gleam of Northern Lights" (oratorio)

• Zuckert