Paul Lennard
Toronto Daily Star, March 2 1932
Paul Musikonsky was the stage name of Paul Lennard (1920-2020), who was 11, not 9, when he appeared at Massey Hall.
When Lennard started performing, he was given a Russian-sounding stage name because it was assumed that Russian artists would be taken more seriously. (He had a Russian music teacher and learned how to speak Russian, so he would have had as good a chance as any of pulling it off.) He performed throughout North America and then Europe in the 1930s.
Lennard went on to serve as an army photographer during the Second World War. After the war, he tried to resume his music career, but a train accident made it impossible for him to play. He became a businessman, owning and running a plastics business and branching into manufacturing scientific research equipment.
Lennard's obituary is here; there is also a web site that documents his life.
Created August 26, 2025.