The pianist and composer Oskar Morawetz, originally from Bohemia, played a major role in helping Canada to establish a high-calibre musical life after the Second World War. From 1952 until his retirement in 1982, he was Professor of Composition at the University of Toronto. His works have been performed by all Canadian orchestras; “Memorial to Martin Luther King” for cello and orchestra, a harp concerto and “From The Diary Of Anne Frank” have also gained international recognition. His escape was an odyssey: although his parents had found refuge in Canada in 1939, Morawetz was stranded in Paris when the war broke out. After an adventurous journey via southern France, Trieste and Santo Domingo, he reached Toronto in the summer of 1940. Peter Sakar talks to conductor, pianist and Morawetz expert Philip Headlam.