Died 12 May 1924 | ||
Bertha Drechsler Adamson (March 25, 1848 – May 12, 1924) was a Scottish-born Canadian violinist, educator and conductor.
The daughter of Adam Hamilton, who taught music at the University of Edinburgh, she was born Bertha Drechsler Hamilton in Edinburgh. With her sister Emily, she studied violin in Leipzig with Ferdinand David. She performed with her father's quartet, which included her sister and her brother Carl, in the United Kingdom. After she married in 1869, she moved to Hamilton, Ontario, later settling in Toronto. In 1887, she joined the teaching staff of the newly formed Toronto Conservatory of Music. In 1888, she was first violinist for the Conservatory String Quartette; she left the Conservatory later that year but returned in 1895. She played with and conducted the Conservatory Symphony Orchestra (later the Toronto Symphony Orchestra). From 1901 to 1904, she was first violin for the Toronto Conservatory String Quartette.
Pupils of Drechsler Adamson included Harry Adaskin, Frank Blachford, Julia Grover Choate and Lina Drechsler Adamson, her daughter.
She died in Toronto at the age of 76.