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Rolande Garnier
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Singer, actor.
Born in Notre Dame de Lourdes on 11 June 1926, daughter of Berthe Saelens (1903-1986) and Jean Baptiste Rozière (1897-1966), she studied voice with Martial Singher, first at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec in Montréal, and then privately in 1953-1954. She was a mezzo-soprano, and was the winner of the 1952-53 CBC French-network radio competition, Nos futures étoiles.
She went on to tour with the Jeunesses musicales du Canada from 1953-1954 with Canadian baritone Louis Quilico, and then again from 1958-1959. She also gave recitals on radio and television, and appeared as soloist with the Winnipeg Philharmonic Choir and a number of orchestras, including the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. She sang in Winnipeg for Golden Voices Opera (Madame Flora in Menotti's The Medium, 1972), Opera Manitoba (Berta in The Barber of Seville, 1972), and the Manitoba Opera Association (Suzuki in Madame Butterfly, 1973; Mercédès in Carmen, and Annina in La Traviata, 1974). She also starred in many productions at Rainbow Stage, including Can Can, Showboat, The King and I, and The Sound of Music.
Prior to her retirement she worked for World Adventure Tours as a spokesperson and office manager, affording her the opportunity to continue to travel. She loved classical music, the outdoors, and travel, and like her father and brother, was a skilled carpenter who loved nothing better than to work at the cottage on the Winnipeg River near Pointe du Bois.
In 1942, she married sculptor Hubert Garnier and they had one child.
She died at Winnipeg on 11 April 2009.
Obituary [Rolande Garnier], Winnipeg Free Press, 18 April 2009.
“The ’09 honour roll,” Winnipeg Free Press, 2 January 2010, page H4.
“Rolande Garnier,” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 22 May 2015.
“Andre Leon Rozière,” Kokot Danaher and Beyond Family Tree, Ancestry.
We thank Jennifer Doyle and Gordon Goldsborough for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Lois Braun.
Page revised: 28 January 2025
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