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Ethel Stark
Ethel Stark was a Montreal violinist who, at the age of 29, became the first conductor of an all women's symphony orchestra in 1940.

The decision to form an all women's orchestra was a spur of the moment decision that Stark made.

The first performance of the Montreal Women’s Symphony took place in the summer of 1940 to a crowd of 5,000 people. Critics raved that it was ingenious and that it “had broken away from conservative ideas about music and women in music.”

The Toronto Symphony “Pop” Concert was guest conducted by Ethel in February of 1946. The performance was received warmly, and gaining recognition and popularity, the Montreal Women’s Symphony signed a contract in autumn of 1947. Ethel was noted as feeling, “that the contract to play at Carnegie Hall is not so much to her and her musicians the answer to every artist’s hopes and ambitions as an acknowledgment that at last it is accepted that there’s room for women in music.”