Irving Guttman at UBC

The man who was almost singlehandedly responsible for developing opera in Western Canada was honoured at UBC last week (May 21) with an honourary degree. Mr.Guttman, (who I had the honour of working with once at UBC in my first attempt at La Boheme,) not only started the opera companies in Winnipeg, Regina, Edmonton, and Vancouver, but he also brought serious talent into those regions with early appearances by artists like Joan Sutherland all the way back in 1958. Truly a man deserving of this recognition.