- A-4368
- Item
- Dec. 1963
Howard Leyton-Brown, director of Conservatory, in recording booth in Darke Hall addition, Regina Campus.
Bio/Historical Note: Howard Leyton-Brown was born 19 December 1918 in Melbourne, Australia, and raised in that city. At an early age he demonstrated an extraordinary talent for music, and in 1937 he left Australia to study violin in Europe. World War II interrupted these studies and he enlisted in the Royal Air Force, serving as a pilot in Bomber Command and also as an instructor and examiner with the Commonwealth Pilot Training Program. Leyton-Brown received the Distinguished Flying Cross for his wartime service. While stationed in Estevan, Saskatchewan he met his future wife, Myrl, and she joined him in England in 1944. earned the Licentiate of the Guildhall School of Music, receiving the highest marks ever awarded in the British Isles. Leyton-Brown subsequently performed as a soloist and also served as leader of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1952 he accepted a position as head of the String Department of the Regina Conservatory of Music, becoming director in 1955, and was appointed director of the Western Board of Music Examination system in 1953. He held both directorships until his retirement in 1987. Leyton-Brown remained active as a soloist and conductor, notably of the Regina Symphony Orchestra, and served on the boards of many organizations dedicated to music and the performing arts. He was founding Chair of the Department of Music at the University of Regina, earned a PhD from the University of Michigan and continued to contribute long after retirement in 2016. He was the recipient of many honours, the most significant of which include being named a Fellow of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1955, Member of the Order of Canada in 1991, Member of the Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 1996, and Chevalier of the French Legion of Honour in 2015. Howard Leyton-Brown died 13 January 2017.