NAC Flags at Half-Staff in Honour of Composer, Conductor Howard Cable

The National Arts Centre (NAC) will fly its flags at half-staff in memory of Canadian composer, conductor and arranger Howard Cable, who has died at the age of 95.

Howard Cable’s career spanned more than 70 years and included collaborations with Richard Rodgers, Ella Fitzgerald, the Canadian Brass, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Sharon, Lois and Bram, to name a few. His compositions and arrangements have been performed many times over the years by the National Arts Centre Orchestra.  

“Howard Cable was renaissance man and musician of the first order who never slowed down over his long career,” said Christopher Deacon, Managing Director of the NAC Orchestra. “His music and brilliant arrangements will continue to be performed on the NAC stages for decades to come. Our sympathies go out to his family and to all his colleagues in the performing arts community.”

His contribution to the musical life of Canada has been recognized through his appointment as a Member of the Order of Canada and by receiving an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the University of Lethbridge, Alberta. After completing studies in Toronto under such celebrated teachers as Sir Ernest MacMillan, Ettore Mazzoleni and Healey Willan, he began a career composing, arranging, and conducting radio dramas and variety programs for the CBC. On television he was Music Director and arranger for many celebrated telecasts. He has appeared across Canada in all the major arts festivals and is a featured Guest Conductor of Canadian Symphony orchestras each season.
Mr. Cable was the go-to conductor/composer/arranger for many ensembles and organizations. In the mid-1960s, he worked as a studio conductor in New York and as an arranger for Broadway composers Richard Rodgers, Frank Loesser and Meredith Willson. When Expo '67 was looking for somebody to organize its musical entertainment, it turned to Howard Cable. The Canadian Brass engaged him in 1977 to write arrangements for them, a collaboration that lasted 20 years and resulted in 80 works.
His compositions and arrangements can be heard worldwide on numerous recordings.

With notes from the CBC and The Canadian Music Centre.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Carl Martin
Senior Advisor, Communications
National Arts Centre
613-947-7000, ext. 560