THE CANADIAN HAMBOURG TRIO

The Next Generation

After 1932 Boris left the trio to devote his time exclusively to the Hart House Quartet. His brother Clement then took over as pianist and artistic director of the re-named Canadian Hambourg Trio, which presented a series of concerts in Toronto and toured intermittently. Their programs reflected a wider selection of Canadian music in addition to the standard repertoire.

The trio made its debut in 1934 with Clement Hambourg, piano, and two younger members of the Toronto Symphony—Isadore Desser, violin, and Vaughan Sturm, cello. Subsequently the string players were Grant Milligan, violin, with Charles Mathe, cello. Charles Mathe also taught cello at the Hambourg Conservatory.

The trio disbanded in 1939, but in 1950 another version of the Hambourg Trio was formed with Boris once again cellist-director, his nephew Klemi violin and Helmut Blume, piano. It performed briefly until Boris’s untimely death in 1954.

A programme from a 1934 performance

The Canadian Hambourg Trio in 1946 - Boris Hambourg, Emil Debusmann, Klemi Hambourg