“I couldn’t possibly give a solo before all the others. I really must refuse.”

From this protest in the late 1800’s grew The Duet Club, which has influenced Hamilton’s cultural life for over a century.

Ellen Ambrose, founder of The Duet Club, came to Hamilton in 1875. Her family was very musical. She had excellent musical training and a deep love of music. Miss Ambrose taught at the Wesleyan Ladies’ College in 1889, and then at Mrs. Thomas Chestnut’s Ladies’ School in 1875, before opening her own music school in 1890 at Kingsthorpe School, teaching for $12 a term.

Miss Ambrose had students play for each other at her studio and in their homes. Many of these students became the founding members of The Duet Club.

Piano was considered an essential skill for young ladies of a certain class and the women of the duet club are women whose names are recognizable as the elite of early Hamilton. In the first ever concert the McQuesten girls played as well as Miss Bull and Master Mullen.

The group was first known as the Haydn Duet Club often studying and playing Haydn symphonies arranged for four hands at one piano. Some themes studied and presented were “Schubert”, “Russian Opera” and “Yesterday and Today in Music”. Membership fees were fifty cents, and members were proposed and sponsored as members and were required to be active in music. Later, associate members were accepted, and later still, gentlemen, were accepted as members.

In this era some of the leading musicians of the time performed for the club. These included Jan Rubes, Gladys Swarthout, Evelyn Eby and Reginald Bedford, Gerald Moore, Vladimir Horowitz and Reginald Godden.

The club’s community efforts cannot be overestimated. During World War I, all funds raised by public concerts were donated to the war effort. During WW II, the club staffed the local canteen for enlisted men every Saturday.

The Duet Club was very involved in bringing Community Concerts to Hamilton, aiding with the beginnings of the Bach-Elgar Choir, Kiwanis Music Festival, and Hamilton and Region Arts Council.

Over the years, locations of meetings changed as the club grew. The Club went from Carey’s Piano Warerooms to the Hamilton Conservatory of Music (until 1955).

During this time the name was changed to The Duet Club of Hamilton.

With the guidance of Vladimir Horowitz, the semi-concert Steinway Grand piano was purchased in 1922 with funds received at the Annual Piano Parties held each January.

In 1955 the Club (and piano) moved to Dalewood Public School, in 1973 to Hamilton Place Studio Theatre, in 1977 to First Place complex and later to First Pilgrim Church.

In 1967 The Duet Club’s Centennial project included an impersonation of Ellen Ambrose in a setting of early Hamilton musical life with piano duets. A commissioned work by Keith Bissell, A Summer Evening was performed by The Duet Club Chorus under the direction of Frank Thorolfson. Dr. Roy Fenwick conducted the Chorus’ finale, A Toast to Hamilton.

In 1933 a second Steinway piano (the red piano) was purchased from the Hendrie estate. It was subsequently sold in 1955. Ellen Ambrose died in 1936 and in 1940 the Ellen Ambrose Memorial Scholarship was established for the student with the highest mark over 85 in Grade 10 Toronto Conservatory of Music examinations.

The Student Duet Club was formed in 1928 by Miss Theo Seavey, disbanded, and reformed in 1942 to around 1959. With its own funds and growing to about 50 members, it became The Student Duet Club, encouraging speakers and performances by members.

The Student Duet Club flourished from the 1920s to 1970s. This image is from 1959, the Club’s 70th Anniversary celebrations. The boy in the 2nd row, second from the right, is the late Robert Morrow, Mayor of Hamilton.

By the 1970s, well known artists such as Michael Burgess and Mary Lou Fallis were reaching out to Mrs. Morrow, the president of the club for consideration. In fact, promotional material for various artists from the 1970s in our archives shows how the group grew based on its three principles; to promote the study of music, to encourage performance and to provide scholarships to deserving musicians.

Over the years many Hamilton residents, several new to the city at the time, have come to speak and perform for The Duet Club, including Gladys Whitehead, Valerie Tryon, Boris Brott, and Hugh Fraser.

In 1989, our 100^th Anniversary, membership was 132.

During the last 35 years, members of The Duet Club have continued to fulfill the purposes of the original Haydn Duet Club in supporting young musicians by awarding scholarships and providing a place for young musicians to perform through the yearly concert series.

In 2009, Ken Gee, former scholarship winner, original web site manager, pianist and longtime friend, approached The Duet Club proposing joining efforts in presenting the Michael Geryk Memorial Scholarship for young pianists. Together this annual competition honours the well-loved Hamilton musician by encouraging talented young musicians to perform and compete.