The Confederation Centre of the Arts staff and Board of Directors mourn the loss of Elizabeth Mawson.
To most Islanders, Elizabeth Mawson was Marilla Cuthbert. For us at the Centre, she was simply Liz. No matter how many times one saw Anne of Green Gables – The MusicalTM, when Mawson sang the “Matthew” song, she brought tears to your eyes. Elizabeth Mawson struggled with Alzheimer's for several years and passed away early Saturday morning.
“We offer our heartfelt condolences to Liz’s family and friends,” says Wayne Hambly, Chairman of the Board of the Confederation Centre of the Arts. “Her name is synonymous with the Charlottetown Festival in the role of Marilla Cuthbert. She also gave her name permanently to the Elizabeth Mawson Rehearsal Hall that we dedicated to her in 2001. This year we will dedicate a special performance of Anne™ to her.”
Liz was born in Burlington, Ontario on February 14, 1927. She studied voice at the Hambourg Conservatory and sang soubrette roles in Gilbert & Sullivan and other operetta productions by the Toronto Light Opera Association, CBC radio and TV, and the Eaton Operatic Society. In 1954 she became a soloist at St Andrew's United Church, Toronto, a position she held until 1990. Mawson sang Martha in Faust and Flora in La Traviata (1966), with the Canadian Opera Company. She also sang at the Stratford Festival, her roles included Hebe in H.M.S. Pinafore in 1960, and Marcellina in The Marriage of Figaro in 1964 and 1965, and she appeared in 1968-75 with the Gilbert & Sullivan Society of Toronto in several of its productions. She joined the Charlottetown Festival company in 1968 as Rachel Lynde, and in 1971 she appeared as Marilla Cuthbert, a role that was hers until 2000.
Photo credit for Elizabeth Mawson onstage: Barrett & MacKay. Cut line: Elizabeth Mawson in the role of Marilla Cuthbert, Anne of Green Gables – The Musical™, 1996.
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Media contact: Dan Wall, publicist, Confederation Centre of the Arts, phone (902) 628-6135
Email: confederationcentre.com, web www.confederationcentre.com