page_title: Symphony Six
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Symphony Six / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait photograph of Sir Ernest MacMillan in 1940 by Noel Rubie
context_page_description: The Symphony Six were a group of Canadian musicians under contract to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra who were denied entry to the United States for a concert tour in November 1951. Coming at the height of the McCarthy era in the US, the six musicians – Ruth Budd, Dirk Keetbaas, William Kuinka, Abe Mannheim, John Moskalyk, and Steven Staryk – were denied visas on the suspicion of being involved in communist activities. The TSO sent other musicians in their place and completed its tour. The six musicians resumed playing with the orchestra upon its return to Canada.
  At the end of the 1951-1952 season, the TSO refused to renew the contracts of these musicians, stating that they had not fulfilled their contractual agreements. The six musicians appealed this decision to its union, the Toronto Musicians' Association; the Mayor of Toronto; the Canadian Civil Liberties Association; and many other bodies, without success. They received support from the Federation of Canadian Artists and the Canada Council for the Arts, but not from the Canadian Congress of Labour.
context_section_description: Only two of the Symphony Six eventually returned to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra: Ruth Budd and Stephen Staryk. After her contract was not renewed, Budd played with orchestras in Halifax and other Canadian cities. She was rehired by the TSO in 1964 and continued as a double bassist until 1989, becoming "one of the most beloved members of the orchestra". Staryk played in the CBC Symphony Orchestra from 1952 to 1956 and then traveled to London, where he was appointed concertmaster of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1960 he became concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam and toured the US with them, although he had not been officially cleared by the US immigration department. Staryk was the first Canadian concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1963 to 1967. He returned to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra in 1982, serving as concertmaster until 1986.
  Keetbaas became the principal flautist for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and the CBC Winnipeg Orchestra from 1953 to 1968. From 1956 to 1966 he directed and performed with the Dirk Keetbaas Players, a wind quintet featuring flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and French horn.
  Kuinka performed with the Toronto Renaissance Quintet from 1963 to 1965. In 1964 he formed the Toronto Mandolin Chamber Ensemble, which existed until 1969. He also performed with the orchestra of the National Ballet of Canada. He received a research grant from the Canada Council to study European teaching methods and repertoire in 1966.
  Mannheim later performed in the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.
  Moskalyk joined the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto and also became a faculty member of The Royal Conservatory of Music.
  The TSO board had not renewed the musicians' contracts hoping that it would receive more concert invitations from the United States. However, it received only eight invitations in the following four years, all from the state of Michigan. The eighth tour had to be cancelled because of a snowstorm.
  In a letter written to Dan Cameron, President of the Canadian Federation of Music Teachers, in November 1952, MacMillan reflected that "the orchestra, far from suffering musically, has in some respects improved."
caption: Ernest MacMillan's response to the Symphony Six incident brought him criticism
exif: {"Image XResolution": "96", "Image YResolution": "96", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "oXYgen Scan, Ver. 2.6.3", "Image DateTime": "2011:07:18 10:49:50", "Image Artist": "City of Toronto Archives", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "196", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "344", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "10168", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated"}