He was without a doubt one of the most admired, loved, and befriended men not only in Canada but also internationally.” “From a brilliant best-selling author, professional violinist, revered Teacher, generous philanthropist, and an architectural inspiration, and yet at the same time a humble and quiet individual who gave so much more than he received. “It is impossible to put in a few words the contribution Jim has made,” said brother-in-law, Don Smith. “That was a thrill for me, one of the best.” “Steve Reich premiering a new piece here, and Philip Glass performing here – I never would have met these people otherwise.” Jose Antonio Abreu, founder of Venezuela’s El Sistema music education program, came here after winning the Glenn Gould Prize in 2008, for a performance by members of the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra. “It’s weird.In an interview with the Globe and Mail, Stewart described Integral House as a place that has changed his life. The last two days is really the first time I didn’t talk to him,” Gunawan says. “For the last 14 years, I spoke to him every single day. They bonded over their shared love of classical music, going to many musical performances together. “We just hit it off since then,” Gunawan says, despite their large age difference. When Gunawan moved to Toronto, Stewart was one of the first people he met. For all the accolades and achievements he earned, it doesn’t describe the man who had a family that loved him and a best friend he spoke to almost every day. These are parts of Stewart’s life, but not the sum of them. The last one, coinciding with WorldPride, was a bittersweet affair attended by friends who knew it could be the last time they saw Stewart, close friend Riko Gunawan says. He also threw big, lavish parties for Pride every year. Stewart continued to support LGBT educational programs and charities, often by throwing fundraisers. “When I was interviewing Jim, he said to me that probably the most important thing he has ever done his entire life was his work in the gay rights movement in Hamilton,” Clement says, noting that Stewart was so modest, few people know about the role he played in LGBT activism. Clement says that to write his first textbook, Stewart wrote 12 to 14 hours a day, 364 days a year, for seven years.īut Stewart’s activism was near and dear to his heart. According to Joseph Clement, a documentary filmmaker who is working on a film about Stewart and Integral House, Stewart brought gay rights activist George Hislop to speak at McMaster in the early 1970s, when the LGBT liberation movement was in its infancy, and was involved in protests and demonstrations until mathematics began to dominate his life. Stewart was deeply involved in LGBT activism. His family knew he was gay, and it was never an issue - Smith says he was just family and that’s all there was to it. He was out when he lived in Hamilton, a working-class town built on the edges of steel mills, in the late 1960s and early ’70s. The concert space was Stewart’s only requirement, according to reports - he gave the architects free rein otherwise.Īnd Stewart was a gay man. Built by Canadian architects Brigitte Shim and Howard Sutcliffe in Toronto’s Rosedale neighbourhood, the home includes a concert hall that seats 150 - though it might be more accurate to say it’s a concert hall that includes a home. His home, Integral House, is a monument to his passion. Stewart’s famed textbooks even included a sound-hole insignia on the covers, the same as those found on the body of a violin. “Math paid the bills, but he was very much in love with music,” Smith says. A talented violinist, he was the concertmaster for the McMaster Symphony Orchestra and played violin professionally with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |