The Story of the Symphony Six
As one of Canada’s pre-eminent musical institutions, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra has had many interesting incidents occur over the course of it’s 90 year history. One story that bears repeating took place 60 years ago this month, a painful reminder of how cold war-era politics affected cultural institutions north of the 49th parallel.
On November 27, 1951, the TSO performed at the Masonic Auditorium in Detroit, it’s first ever concert in the USA. At the time, the fear of communism was at it’s peak, led by US Senator Joe McCarthy, whose anti-communist “witch hunts” had seized the United States with particular intensity. The infamous senator had successfully created a belief that Communism had taken hold in China and other parts of the world due, in part, to the infiltration of traitors in the entertainment industry, as well as in academia, the government and the armed forces. For many in Canada, this was a real problem.
By 1941, the Soviet Union was an Allied nation and friendship organizations had sprung up in Canada, recognizing the enormous sacrifice made by the Soviets in the remaining war years. Although some of these groups were sympathetic to the ideology of the Soviet Union, most of these organizations were simply offering support and aid to relieve the hardships suffered by the Soviet people in the aftermath of the second world war. Six members of the TSO were openly involved with one or more of these organizations, although their motivation was more in the spirit of artistic collegiality than any particular ideological inclination.
After the orchestra submitted the names of it’s musicians to US immigration, they were informed that visas would be withheld for six members, without explanation. Ultimately, replacements were found, and the concert took place as planned. The musicians who were refused entry were Ruth Ross, William Kuinka, Abe Mannheim (basses), Dirk Keetbaas, (flute) John Moskalyk (violin), as well as the orchestra’s prominent concertmaster, Steven Staryk, and they subsequently became known as the ‘Symphony Six”.
Around the same time, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra also had an extensive tour of the US planned, and had entry refused for a few of its members. Their management made the decision to cancel the whole tour, and there were many voices in the Canadian arts community at the time who were to suggest that the TSO should have done the same thing. Making matters worse, there were further US concerts booked for the following season, in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia, and in order to fulfill them, the orchestra made the controversial decision not to renew the contracts of the six banned musicians, as it was felt that the renewal of their contracts would jeopardize the TSO’s efforts to create international recognition through it’s touring program, a decision that divided Toronto’s music community, and ultimately caused several board resignations.
The TSO’s conductor at the time, Sir Ernest MacMillan, who had taken a “no-comment” position, would subsequently suffer a loss of prestige as a result of his own inaction this matter. Meanwhile, the six members of the orchestra who lost their contracts as a result of the affair were subject to suspicion, and avoided by other musicians who wished to avoid guilt by association. Seeking intervention, they got together, holding many meetings, with the Civil Liberties Association, the Toronto board of control, the Toronto Musicians’ Association, and the TSO Board. Their efforts proved fruitless, however. The musicians union, like other unions around North America, were at their wits end trying to avoid any suspicions that it had any communist leanings, and so they ultimately agreed with the original decision to let the six go.
Speculating about possible reasons for the restrictions, all Steven Staryk could come up with was that he had played at Ukrainian and other ethnic events, and Budd, that she had been a member of a left-wing youth group. The composer and english hornist, Harry Freedman, a member of the Toronto Symphony during that period, as well as being on the board of the musician’s union at the time, stated that he was not aware of any of the six sacked musicians promoting communism and that any accusations to the contrary were unfounded.
The removal of the “Symphony Six” did not result in an active touring schedule for the orchestra, and the next four years only brought seven invitations for the orchestra to perform in American cities. Ultimately, the firings were a blight on the reputation of the orchestra due to the high profiles of the members involved.
Decades later, Steven Staryk would eventually return to his position as concertmaster of the TSO, after a successful international career. Dirk Keetbaas went on to have a long and fruitful career in other orchestras, beginning with the post of principal flute in the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. Ruth Budd returned to the bass section a decade later, becoming one of the orchestra’s most beloved members. and upon her retirement, she founded the Senior Strings, a string orchestra made up of retired members of the TSO, conducted by Victor Feldbrill.
All in all, the TSO’s management could not have handled this affair with less decorum or unnecessary publicity. It should not be forgotten that because of the policies of another government, six musicians were deprived of work in their own country.
