Rudy Toth was a Canadian composer, arranger, conductor, pianist, and cimbalom player of Slovak birth.
13 Facts About Rudy Toth
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Rudy Toth was the only child in the family not born in Canada as the family emigrated to Windsor, Ontario, shortly after his birth.
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Rudy Toth studied at The Royal Conservatory of Music during the 1940s where his instructors included Boris Berlin, John Weinzweig, and Ettore Mazzoleni.
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Rudy Toth pursued further studies in conducting with Walter Susskind in Toronto and at the Tanglewood Music Center with Leonard Bernstein.
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Rudy Toth began his performance career playing in dance bands in Toronto while studying at the RCM in the early 1940s.
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Rudy Toth played in bands led by Stan Patton, Ellis McLintock, and Bert Niosi among others.
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Rudy Toth soon was employed by CBC Television as a music director for television programs starring Joan Fairfax, Wally Koster, and Denny Vaughan among others.
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Rudy Toth actively performed as a cimbalom player up until his retirement in 1989, notably appearing as a soloist in works by Bartok, Kodaly, and Stravinsky with orchestras like the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Ivan Romanoff Orchestra, the Ottawa Symphony Orchestra, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.
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Rudy Toth ceased working as a music director at the CBC in 1965, after which he concentrated his efforts on composing jingles and theme music for radio and television.
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Rudy Toth worked frequently on jingles and theme music with his brother Jerry and with composers Dolores Claman and Richard Morris between 1965 and 1970; with the group operating together as Quartet Productions.
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Rudy Toth died in Lisle, Ontario, in 2009 at the age of 83.
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Rudy Toth's wife was the violinist and lyricist Josephine Toth.
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Rudy Toth notably contributed lyrics to several of her husband's projects, including works on the 1977 LP album Canada: A Young People's Musical Tour of Canada's Provinces and Territories.