One Lucky Lyrical Music ManIf you have seen Montreal musical theatre, you have seen Bob Bachelor at work
by Barbara Ford
Bob Bachelor is one lucky man. Since he began his musical training in Toronto at a Catholic choir school, he has never had to support himself by taking work outside his chosen profession: musical theatre.
He came to Montreal in 1971 to study music at McGill University and while there, he began working as a vocal rehearsal pianist for the well-known and extremely popular amateur group, The Arcadians. At the time, the dance pianist for them was Linda Laroche … to be continued.
By the time he graduated with both a Bachelor degree in music as well as a teaching diploma, he was The Arcadians’ Musical Director and remained so until 1980, managing to make ends meet with small musical jobs in between their massive productions. “I never wanted to have a day job, work in a bank or something to support my music. I told myself early on that I only wanted to make a living with music and, I can hardly believe it myself, amazingly, it’s worked out that way.”
