KENT, Ada

Ada Twohy Kent (8 February 1888 – 23 July 1969) was a Canadian musician, composer, and music educator. She was described as "probably Canada's most successful woman composer" in a 1943 profile.

Kent was a pianist and composer from her teens, and a music educator. In Hamilton, Ontario, she was a church organist beginning in her teens, and taught at the Hamilton School of Music. She was also a church organist in Toronto, where she taught at the Toronto Conservatory of Music, and at Moulton Ladies' College. She toured as accompanist for the Canadian Mendelssohn Choir. In 1938, she gave a recital of her own works at London's Wigmore Hall. She gave a similar program in 1939, at the Prince Edward Hotel in Windsor.

Kent composed works for piano, violin, and voice,[11] and wrote several books of songs for children.[12] She often used texts by Canadian writers as the lyrics of her songs.[13] "Ada Twohy Kent has the precious gift of melodic sense," wrote a reviewer in 1937, about her first book of songs. "There's a simple vigor and often a lyric enchantment in these songs that entirely ignores sad or gloomy suggestions."