Educator, choir conductor.
Born at Rossburn on 25 July 1904, younger daughter of Reba and Hugh Ross, the family moved to Winnipeg in 1917. She completed high school and an Arts degree (1924) at Wesley College then she attended the Central Normal School. She taught at Aberdeen School (?-?), later served as Supervisor of Music in West Kildonan schools, and ended her teaching career at Balmoral Hall. She also served several terms on the faculty of the Manitoba Teachers' College and the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba.
She was a noted choir conductor, conducting the Carollers on weekly broadcasts for CBC RFadio and the choir of the Young Women's Musical Club. In 1949, she founded the Oriana Singers who sang on radio and around Winnipeg. During the 1950s, under the auspices of the Wednesday Morning Musicals, she directed live chamber operas, the most notable of which was the first Canadian performance of Menotti's “Amahl and the Night Visitors”. She was also active throughout Manitoba and across Canada as a choir adjudicator. She was a founding member of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, an honorary life member of the Wednesday Morning Musicale and the Women's Musical Club, and Director Emerita of the Manitoba Opera Association. In recognition of her service, she received a City of Winnipeg Community Service Award (1984).
On 26 December 1934, she married geologist Donald John Birse (1903-1980) and they had a daughter.
She died at the Grace Hospital on 15 August 1994. She is commemorated by the Berythe Birse Scholarship offered by the Women's Musical Club.
Marriage registration [Berythe Margaret Wallace Ross, Donald John Birse], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Obituary [Donald John Birse], Winnipeg Free Press, 14 May 1980, page 79.
Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, 9 September 1994, page 19.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 12 October 2024
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