Born: January 24, 1924 (Toronto, Canada)

Died: February 19, 1997 (Toronto, Canada))

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Lois Marshall, soprano, began studying voice at age 12 in her native Toronto, Ontario, studying with Weldon Kilburn at Toronto's Royal Conservatory of Music. She was a graduate of the University of Toronto. She enjoyed a long career as a concert and recital singer, first as a soprano and later as a mezzo-soprano, performing throughout North America, Britain, Europe, Australia and Russia. She recorded extensively and in a wide repertoire.

The lifelong effects of childhood polio severely limited her mobility, especially in later years. She appeared occasionally on opera stages and in televised opera, including Boston productions especially staged for her by Sarah Caldwell. Her final performances in opera were as the old nurse in Eugene Onegin, in Ottawa and Toronto. Early recordings were with Toscanini and Beecham, and for many years toured as the soprano soloist in the Bach Aria Group.

Among the first to recognize Marshall's musicality was Sir Ernest McMillan who engaged her as a soloist with the Toronto Symphony performing the Messiah and Bach's St. Matthew's Passion.

In 1950, she became a household name throughout Canada by winning first place in the CBC competition "Singing Stars of Tomorrow." In 1952, she won the Walter W. Naumburg Competition which gave her a New York debut in Town Hall.

In 1986, Lois Marshall joined the University of Toronto's Faculty of Music teaching until her passing in 1997.