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Lucio Agostini arrived in Canada from Italy with his family when he was two, settling in Montreal. He was to become one of Canada’s most prolific music composers, joining the group of great writers, actors, directors and composers who gained fame in the era of live shows leading up to and during the golden age of radio and of radio drama.
At age 5 he began his musical training with his father, Giuseppe Agostini, a composer and conductor. He furthered his studies in harmony and composition with Louis Michiels and Henri Miro and in cello with Peter Van der Meerschen. At 15 he played tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, and cello in his father's theatre orchestra, and at 16 he played cello in the Montreal Philharmonic Orchestra. He conducted the Red and White Revue at McGill University in 1929 and 1930, and soon afterwards conducted his first radio show on CFCF. He was a professional composer before he reached the age of twenty.
From 1932 to 1943, he composed film music for the Associated Screen News of Canada newsreels, and in 1934 began working as a conductor for the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission, precursor to the CBC. He moved to Toronto in 1943 and composed and conducted the incidental music for drama series and variety programs on the CBC radio and television. For over 20 years Agostini held the position as conductor and arranger on the popular weekly series Front Page Challenge. He also conducted for the popular Juliette TV variety program in the 1950s and 60s and he was musical director and band leader for, or contributor to, many other shows.
In 1983 Agostini won the John Drainie Award from ACTRA in recognition of his contributions to broadcasting in Canada. Outside broadcasting, he composed musicals, film music for short and feature films, concertos, an opera, and a multitude of arrangements. The National Library of Canada music archives contain manuscripts and copies of some 2,000 Lucio Agostini scores.
Dr. Mary Jane Aguilar, B.A., M.Sc., M.D., has made a survey of the material obtained during the surgical treatment of epilepsy patients during the period 1950-58, with special reference to those cases presenting a rather distinctive, progressive course. She wrote her thesis, “The role of chronic encephalitis in the pathogenesis of epilepsy” (McGill, MSc., 1958). https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/concern/theses/pn89db15t
Richard Ahlert was a songwriter and composer. His compositions were performed and recorded by artists such as Perry Como, who performed ''My Days of Loving You,'' and Aretha Franklin, ''Running Out of Fools.'' He also composed the music and lyrics for the Broadway musical, ''Adam,'' for which his wife, June, wrote the book.
Richard graduated from the Juilliard School of Music at age 17. He played clarinet in a U.S. Army band in World War II and later with the Ray Anthony Orchestra. He began writing and publishing in the 1950s and was a member of the American Guild of Authors and Composers and of the board of review of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). He won an ASCAP award of merit in 1971 for his country song, ''Pencil Marks on the Wall.''
Kalevi Ensio Aho was born on March 9, 1949, in Forssa, Finland.
He is a Finnish composer and professor. He began his interest in music at the age of ten when he discovered a mandolin in his home and began to teach himself how to play it. After learning how to read sheet music, Aho immediately started composing. He moved to Helsinki in 1968 to study at the Sibelius Academy. He studied composition at the Sibelius Academy under Einojuhani Rautavaara, graduating in 1971. He continued his studies for a year in Berlin with Boris Blacher. His teaching positions include music theory at the University of Helsinki (1974-1988), and a professorship at the Sibelius Academy (1988-1993). He was named composer-in-residence for the Lahti Symphony Orchestra in 1992. The conductor, Osmo Vänskä, has recorded many of his recent large-scale works with the orchestra. Aho has worked as a freelance composer with a state scholarship since 1993. He lives in Helsinki.
As of 2021, Aho has composed seventeen symphonies, thirty-seven concertos, five operas and several vocal works. His chamber music includes many quintets, quartets, sonatas, and solo works. He first came to fame with his first symphony (1969) and second-string quartet (1970).
Vito Ahtik was a professor at the Department of Sociology of the Université du Québec à Montréal.
Gregor Aichinger was born circa 1565 in Regensburg, Germany.
He was a German composer. In 1584, after studying at the University of Ingolstadt, he became organist to the prominent Fugger family of Augsburg, and hence of the Church of St. Ulrich, Augsburg, a position he held until his death. He made two trips to Italy (1584-1588 and 1598-1601). By 1603, he was ordained. The great majority of his compositions are sacred vocal works with Latin texts.
He died on January 21, 1628, in Augsburg, Germany.
Aiken, Alfred Lawrence, 1870-1946
Alfred L. Aiken was born on July 6, 1870, in Norwich, Connecticut.
He was the first leader at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and served as governor of the Bank from November 1914 to December 1917. Following his graduation from Yale University in 1891, he joined State Mutual Life Assurance Company as a clerk, leaving after two years to become assistant manager of the New England department of New York Life Insurance Company. In 1903, Aiken decided to pursue a career in banking, becoming an assistant cashier at State National Bank in Boston. Eleven years later, in 1914, his banking career reached a capstone with his election as President of the newly created Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. As the Bank’s first president, Aiken was closely involved with the initial establishment of the discount rate policy. Benjamin Strong, Governor of the New York Fed at the time of Aiken’s tenure, commended Aiken for his policy, which enveloped all the member banks of the Boston Fed in the same system, each bank paying at the same rate to borrow from the Fed. After three years of service, Aiken resigned from the Boston Fed to become President of National Shawmut Bank, Boston. In 1924, he returned to his first career interest, rejoining New York Life as a vice president, becoming a chairman by 1940.
In 1896, he married Elizabeth Peck Hopkins, and after her death, he remarried Anna Colvin Hopkins in 1942. He retired in 1942 and died on December 13, 1946, In New York City, New York.
Aikins, Herbert Austin, 1867-1946
Herbert Austin Aikins was born on March 1, 1867, in Toronto, Ontario, the son of the first dean of the Toronto Medical School.
He was a professor, clinical psychologist, author, and translator. After receiving an A.B. degree from the University of Toronto in 1887, Aikins became an instructor in philosophy at the University of Southern California. In 1891, he graduated from Yale University (Ph.D.) and began a series of one-year appointments at Yale, Trinity School, and Clark University. From 1894 until retirement in 1937, Aikins was a professor of philosophy, psychology, and mental hygiene at Flora Stone Mather College of Western Reserve University.
In 1895, he married Amie Florence Dean (1865–1932). He died on November 13, 1946, in Cleveland, Ohio.