Chotem, Neil, 1920-2008 : Neil Chotem was born on 9 September 1920 in Saskatoon to parents of Russian Jewish origin. He started his piano studies at the Palmer School of Music at the age of 5, and continued his studies with Lyell Gustin in Saskatoon during 1930-1938. He also studied in Chicago with Gustin's teacher, the Canadian pianist Jeannette Durno, during 1934. In 1933 Chotem made his orchestral début with the Regina Symphony, performing Piano Concerto No. 2 by Camille Saint-Saens. Chotem gave numerous recitals on Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) radio in Winnipeg (where the Chotem family had re-located) during 1935-1939, and he also premiered his composition Scherzo Tarantelle, for piano and orchestra, in that city. He gave solo piano recitals and performed with orchestras in Western Canada in the latter part of the 1930s, and during 1940-1942 Chotem performed as a duo pianist with Gordon Kushner. Chotem joined the Royal Canadian Air Force as a bandsman in 1942, and soon found a role as a pianist, touring overseas bases with a big band and singers to entertain members of the forces. It was during his wartime service that Chotem first developed an interest in jazz, an interest that he retained as a performer, composer, arranger, and band leader for the rest of his career.
In 1945 Chotem settled in Montreal, where his career began to flourish. During 1946 to 1950 he continued his piano studies in that city with Michel Hirvy, and in 1946 Chotem accompanied the Austrian-British tenor Richard Tauber in a Canadian tour. The following year Chotem performed André Mathieu's Concerto de Québec in the film La Forteresse. The celebrated pianist Artur Rubinstein heard Chotem during a visit to Montreal, and predicted a brilliant future for the young musician. Chotem's Montreal recital début took place in March 1947, and later that year he appeared as a guest soloist with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Chotem's long association with the CBC and the Société Radio-Canada (SRC) in Montreal began with broadcasts of his jazz trio during 1946-1948. By the 1950s and 1960s, he was frequently featured in national CBC/SRC radio and television programmes, as a pianist, arranger, composer, conductor, and with his jazz groups. He appeared regularly in the CBC radio series Music from Montreal, in which he conducted the CBC Montreal Orchestra in programmes of his own compositions and arrangements, those by other Canadians (e.g., Robert Farnon, Michel Perrault), and works from the light classical and popular repertoires. The CBC released a number of albums of jazz, popular, and other music by Chotem in the 1950s and 1960s, including a 1969 recording of his arrangements of Gordon Lightfoot compositions. Chotem also composed and arranged music for dance and theatrical productions, and incidental music for film, radio and television dramas and documentaries. He was also regularly invited to perform with Canadian orchestras as piano soloist or guest conductor.
Chotem's career in music also included teaching. He taught such subjects as orchestration, arrangement, and composition at McGill University (1955-1956 and 1970-1976), École Vincent-d'Indy and the Université de Montréal (1970-1972), and the Conservatoire de musique de Québec à Montréal (1973-1976). Among his students was Galt MacDermot, who went on to compose the score for the 1967 musical Hair.
Although his musical training and origins lay in classical music, Chotem resisted categorisation as a musician. During the 1960s and later, he continued to expand his musical horizons by collaborating (e.g., as an arranger and conductor) with leading Québécois popular musicians, among them Jean-Pierre Ferland, Claude Léveillée, Paul Piché, Michel Rivard, Marie-Claire Séguin, and most notably the progressive rock group Harmonium. In 1968 Chotem was one of three conductor-arrangers chosen to interpret the works on 12 Québec songwriters, in the recording 3-12: 3 chefs d'orchestre-arrangeurs interprètent 12 chansonniers (for which he won a prize from the Festival du disque de Montréal). In 1976 Chotem played a key role as an arranger, composer, conductor, and pianist in the landmark recording L'Heptade d'Harmonium, which was both critically acclaimed and a commercial success (achieving gold record status).
Among the other honours and awards bestowed on Chotem are: Festival du disque de Montréal prize for his arrangement of Jacques Brel's Ne me quitte pas, 1968; four Anik Awards, 1981-1986; the Grand Award from the International Radio Festival of New York, 1983; a Gemini nomination for the television series Chasing Rainbows, 1988; Prix de la Guilde des musiciens du Québec, 1993. He twice served as composer and musical director for the investiture ceremonies of governors-general, and was chosen to compose the music for the sound and light show on Parliament Hill for the Canadian Centennial.
Chotem had three children, among them the guitarist Tony Chotem, by his first marriage, which ended in 1967. His partner later in life was the dancer and choreographer Françoise Lespérance Riopelle Mercure. Neil Chotem died at Greenfield Park, Quebec, on 21 February 2008.
