Carol von Syberg

MCPA Association Life-Member

Carol (Moulton) von Syberg was born in Halifax, and her interest in, and talent for, music came naturally.  Her mother was a pianist who had studied at Boston’s New England Conservatory at a time when it had close links with the Halifax Conservatory of Music, a result of early Directors of each institution having been fellow students at the Leipzig Royal Conservatory.

Carol began her piano studies at the Conservatory when it was at its original home on Barrington Street, but her mother thought that her teacher there was too mannered at the keyboard and, concerned that Carol was beginning to emulate her, arranged for a transfer to the Maritime Academy of Music.  The Academy had the added advantage of being much closer to the Moulton residence, so Carol’s reluctant brother no longer had to accompany her to her piano lessons.  Initially Carol’s teacher at the Academy was Hester Beach (later Jackson), still remembered as an excellent teacher.  Later Carol took piano lessons from the Director of the Academy Harry Dean, who also taught a course in the History of Music in which Carol and Jean Ring were fellow classmates.  Dean introduced the class to opera via Wagner’s Ring Cycle; Carol has commented that she disliked opera from that moment until her husband Paul von Syberg, a talented baritone, reintroduced her to the medium many years later.

As a senior student, Carol studied piano with Rita Morton, from whom she also took music theory; for many years Carol has donated a scholarship in Rita Morton’s memory, just one of the student awards at the Conservatory she personally funds. Rita Morton is remembered “for her many hours of dedication to students” and Carol in this regard has definitely followed in her mentor’s footsteps.

Carol also recalls a childhood memory of a copy of Sir Arthur Sullivan’s The Lost Chord sitting on the piano and wishing that she could play it. The opening line of the song is “Seated one day at the organ...”, and those words were to prove prophetic, because she soon added organ to her piano studies, taking lessons at Fort Massey United Church where Mr. Dean was organist from 1906 until 1953.

Carol recalls that the church was unheated in the winter and Mr. Dean telling her to get a pair of gloves and cut off the ends of the fingers!  Carol also remembers how scary the church with its carved gargoyles became as the light faded at the end of a short winter day.  Later Carol continued her organ studies with Dr. Maitland Farmer (on the Saint Matthias Church organ), and then with Graham Steed at St. Mary’s Basilica.  In later years Carol served as organist at Edgewood United Church, then at J. Wesley Smith United (the church her family attended when she was young), and finally at St. Mary’s Basilica.

To complete her musical training, Carol attained her Licentiate in teaching at London’s Royal Schools of Music.

Subsequently she taught at the Conservatory for more than six decades; for many of those years she served as Chair of the Piano Faculty.   Carol has taught many excellent students whom she has supported in every way and who have often gone on to significant careers in music.  When her own students performed at Conservatory concerts, they were—and are—notable for their confidence based on meticulous preparation.

For the last few years of her career Carol taught from her home rather than her studio at the Conservatory.  Given the problems on teaching in the Covid-19 environment, she finally decided to retire in the autumn of 2020.  At the 2021 MCPA Convocation, Carol was named Teacher Emeritus, an honour accorded to long-time faculty members of exceptional merit.

She remained an active member of the Association’s Board of Directors until 2021, although she continues to help with specific projects, maintaining a connection of more than 80 years with the Conservatory and an organization now called Bravura Nova Scotia.

Carol has been a member of the Association Board from at least the late 1960s and has held various executive positions with distinction, including a period in the 1990s as President.   For many years, Carol has also been involved with Daryl Chaddock in organizing the Silent Auctions for the Association’s fund raisers.  She has also served with distinction on the Conservatory’s Student Awards Committee, which required that she attend student performances throughout the year—something that Carol in her conscientious manner could be counted upon to do. 

Carol has also been a supporter of other organizations including the Halifax Ladies’ Musical Club and the Nova Scotia Registered Music Teachers’ Association, of which she is both a past president of the Halifax Chapter and a Life Member.

It may be Carol von Syberg’s quiet and unassuming competence that is her most distinguishing feature.  Working discretely and effectively, she prefers to toil and contribute behind the scenes, rather than in more public ways.  An invaluable support for successive Presidents of the Association, she provides background information, historical memory, excellent judgement, and corrections of draft minutes.  And Carol always agrees to help whenever she is asked, bringing her positive attitude to everything she does.