- Marian Grudeff
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Marian Grudeff (April 18, 1927 – November 4, 2006) was a Canadian pianist and musical theatre composer.
Born in Toronto, she studied piano under Mona Bates and performed Liszt's Hungarian Fantasy with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at the age of 11. She subsequently gave her first solo recital at the Eaton Auditorium. She performed extensively in Canada and the United States in the 1940s, and taught at the Royal Conservatory of Music from 1948 to 1952. In the 1950s and 1960s she was part of the Toronto theatrical revue Spring Thaw.
Grudeff and collaborator Ray Jessel subsequently moved to New York City, where they collaborated on the Broadway musicals Baker Street and a new version of Hellzapoppin'. Grudeff and Jessel also cowrote the musical Life Can Be - Like Wow, which was produced at the Charlottetown Festival in 1969.
Grudeff returned to the Royal Conservatory of Music in 1972, teaching there until 1979. She resumed her concert performances in 1976, giving recitals in Toronto and Bulgaria. After 1981, she continued to teach piano privately in Toronto until her retirement. During this time she worked as a musical director at Hart House Theatre, where she became a mentor to Don McKellar and Lisa Lambert, who would go on to create the hit musical The Drowsy Chaperone.
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