News Releases

REF NO.: 168

SUBJECT:	School of Music announces new award in honour of late Corner Brook businessman Karl Diemer
DATE:	May 1, 2007

Memorial University’s School of Music is proud to announce a new student award – the Karl Diemer Memorial Bursary. This fund has been established through a generous gift by Roberte Diemer in memory of her husband, Corner Brook businessman, photographer and classical music aficionado Karl Diemer. Trained as a professional singer, Mr. Diemer had a great love for music and encouraged young musicians throughout his life. This bursary is a way of continuing his legacy by encouraging young musicians at the School of Music.

Karl Diemer was born in Ober-Kaufungen, Germany, in 1920. He studied drama and voice, and set out to become an actor – but his career was cut short by the outbreak of the Second World War. He was captured in battle and brought to Canada as a prisoner of war and later returned to this country in 1954 as an immigrant settling permanently in Newfoundland in 1960. His ties to music in the community included, among other things, his involvement with the Corner Brook Rotary Music Festival and a long-running concert series held in his home – Villa Fairwind – that promoted young musicians and allowed them to gain public performance experience in a world-class setting.

Tom Gordon, director of the School of Music, is delighted with this new undergraduate award saying “this bursary will assure that the Diemer’s longtime support and encouragement of musicians from the Corner Brook region will continue far into the future. The Karl Diemer Memorial Bursary in Music will provide opportunities for the young musicians from the great talent pool in Western Newfoundland to achieve their potential here at the School of Music."

The bursary will be awarded annually to a voice student who demonstrates musical potential, scholarship standing and financial need. The first awarding of the bursary will be this spring.

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