Carolyn Mossman

Carolyn Schurman (later Mossman) began her piano studies with Shirley Blois (later Lindzay) in Truro. Her early proficiency was soon recognized at festival performances not only in her hometown but also in New Glasgow, Halifax, and Moncton. Her initial connection with the Halifax Conservatory, then on Spring Garden Road, began when Carolyn was in Grade 11. She studied with Walter Kaufamn who was briefly Head of the Conservatory’s Piano Department (1947-1948) and with its Director Ifan Williams. Working with Mr. Williams, for example, Carolyn and fellow student pianist John Aucoin prepared César Frank’s Violin Sonata in A Major which they presented to great acclaim. She also studied piano and organ with Dr. Harold Hammer who was both long-time organist and choirmaster at St. David’s Presbyterian Church in Halifax and instructor in theory at the Halifax Conservatory of Music. A graduate of Acadia University, Carolyn was one of the first young musicians to receive support from the Nova Scotia Talent Trust.

Carolyn Schurman Mossman has always been recognized as a very fine accompanist, and she performed in that capacity with many of the Conservatory’s best-known students and Faculty members. Among them were Jim Bennet (vocalist with CBC TV’s Sing Along Jubilee), the splendid pianist Howard Brown (who, after a brief period in Halifax went on to head the Mount Allison Conservatory), Jim Brown (a trombonist who also studied with Ifan Williams, FRAM), violinist and later Board Chair Arthur Fordham, and violinist Margaretta Williams (Brown). For three years Carolyn was also the accompanist for the Halifax Conservatory of Music Orchestra, a forerunner of Symphony Nova Scotia.

For a period Carolyn lived in Toronto, where she worked closely with such musical luminaries as conductor and composer Sir Earnest MacMillan and Dr. Charles Peaker, one of Canada’s preeminent concert and church organists. In Edmonton she accompanied the Richard Eaton Singers and performed with them in concert with the Edmonton Symphony. She was also accompanist for a number of choral groups, including groups that specialized in Bach’s choral repertory or in madrigals.

Carolyn Mossman has been a long-time Member of the MCPA Association, and she has been an extremely generous supporter of the Conservatory by a donation to create the Shirley Blois Lindsay Room and her by funding of the Shirley Blois Lindsay Scholarship, both of which recognize her respect for, and gratitude to, her first piano teacher.