Artistic Advisor, Fall/Winter Residency, Music & Sound

Pianist Isobel Moore Rolston studied at the Royal Scottish Academy (Glasgow), at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Max Pirani, and at the Academie für Music in Vienna. She was harpist 1960-70 with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, taught at the University of Alberta 1962-79, and created and developed the piano chamber music program at The Banff Centre in 1967. She became a member of the staff of The Banff Centre’s program for advanced studies in 1979 and in 1989, became the Artistic Director of the fall/winter residency program, which specializes in the career development of professional musicians, both emerging and established.

She has been active as a performer with her husband, violinist Thomas Rolston, and daughter, cellist Shauna Rolston. She and her husband have performed as a duo, winning second prize at the 1956 Munich International Competition and appearing in 1961 at Wigmore Hall, London. Their association with Jean Coulthard has inspired several works, including Duo Sonata (1952), Fantasy (1961, premiered in 1963), and Music on a Scottish Folk Song (1964). The Rolston Trio, formed in 1965 with cellist Claude Kenneson, has given many recitals and broadcasts.

Violinist Zoltán Székely chose Isobel as his exclusive recital partner after 1974. Székely and Moore Rolston recorded Bartók’s two rhapsodies for violin and piano for Hungaroton’s Complete Bartók Record Edition (1974, Hungaroton SLPX-11357). Moore Rolston has performed as accompanist for her daughter, including for the latter’s New York debut recital in Town Hall in 1983, in many subsequent recitals in North America and Asia, and on the recording The Romantic Cello.

She has been a chairperson in the first jury at the previous two Esther Honens International Piano Competitions in Calgary. In 1994 with the amalgamation of The Banff Centre's audio engineering and music programs, Isobel Moore Rolston became the Artistic Director/Executive Producer of the Music & Sound program, a position she continues to hold.