described by a New Brunswick newspaper as one of the Province's finest young musicians. As that paper pointed out, Canada's loss is Bermuda's gain, for Margaret Fox has since married fellow musician, Bermudian Bruce Fox and is just settling in as a piano teacher at the Dunbarton School of Music.

Primarily, however, Mrs. Fox is a recitalist who was awarded the coveted Tate Award for Outstanding Pianist of the Conservatory of Mount Allison University.

While studying for her subsequent Masters degree at the University of Western Ontario, she was a pupil of Ronald Turini, reputedly a favourite former student of Vladimir Horowitz.

The repertoire for her first concert in Bermuda reflects Margaret Fox's love of the Romantic composers.

"I would place Chopin at the top of the list,'' she admits, "followed by the French Romantics.'' Sure enough, her recital, presented by the Dunbarton School of Music, includes pieces by Chopin and Ravel, besides Beethoven, Rachmaninoff and the more modern Samuel Barber. It is a programme which should have wide appeal.

"The Beethoven `Pathetique' Sonata in C Minor is very well known,'' she points out."I used to play it as a child, but I don't think I did it justice then. Whether or not I do it justice now remains to be seen!'' Chopin's Fantasy in F Minor, on the other hand, is not so well known but, she says, "I came across a recording of it, and fell in love with it immediately''.

She will play two pieces by Samuel Barber, who died only in 1981.

"Although he's a modern, Barber was very influenced by Chopin. The Nocturne which I'm playing was actually labelled as such by the composer, John Field and this piece was dedicated to him.'' The Ballade was composed for a Van Cliburn Competition during the '70s.

Margaret Fox feels that the three-movement Sonatine by Ravel reflects the composer's eccentric personality: "He had a vast collection of clocks and you can hear that perpetuum movement in this piece. Like all of Ravel, it's also very lyrical''.

The two Preludes, in G Major and G Sharp Minor, reveal the quieter side of Rachmaninoff's virtuosic talents and appropriately, for this young Canadian exponent, represents the twilight of the late-Romantic tradition.

"The G Minor certainly echoes that air of melancholy which pervades so much Russian music and that kind of sadness that we somehow associate with the Russian people,'' explains Mrs. Fox.

Finally, the concert will end "with a bang, not a whimper,'' when Mrs. Fox tackles Chopin's Ballade in G Major. "This is a very popular piece, which opens quietly -- very subdued and gentle and then goes crazy! It almost turns into a piano rag,'' she laughs, and adds,"you just pray that you can hold on at the end!'' Although Margaret Fox has been playing the piano since she was four or five years old, she had a hard time, at one stage, in choosing between music and figure skating as career options.

"But I decided that the piano would last a lifetime,'' she said. "Now, Bruce and I go skating on roller blades.'' Her love of music, she says, was inspired by her mother.

"She was very talented and should have gone to music school, but she was made to take up nursing instead. I used to watch her playing the piano and I was having lessons by the time I was seven.'' As a captain in the Canadian Armed Forces, her father had to move his family around, so there were several teachers before Margaret Fox began lessons with David Davies, organist of the Anglican Cathedral in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

At Mount Allison, she studied with Patricia Grant Lewis Elliott, a former student of Claudio Arrau. It was at this time, that she met her future husband, who also studied with `Mrs. E.', as they call her. It was not romance, at first sight -- at least, not on her part.

Says Bruce Fox, who teaches music in two Government primary schools and was musical director of the Gilbert & Sullivan Society's productions of `The Boy Friend' and `Annie': "I chased her around the university, but it didn't progress very much at that point! When I came home, we started writing and then the phone bills got to be horrific. So when I visited her in Canada in July of '92, I told her, `we are getting married' -- and basically, she agreed!'' Now, they share their Warwick home with a cocker spaniel who, they insist, has a musical ear.

"Every time I start playing, he comes rushing in to listen,'' Mrs. Fox said.

"He sits under the piano, with his head on my foot, which goes up and down as I work the pedal.'' Adds Bruce Fox, "When Margaret was rehearsing in St. John's, we took the dog along, and when she got to the wild part of the Chopin Ballade, Flops went absolutely bananas -- she loves it!'' And does Margaret Fox suffer from stage fright? "Well, I get nervous for about a week before, but as soon as I'm onstage, I'm fine. You learn to control your nerves in a way that is positive, but I think this is only learned through experience.'' Margaret Fox's Piano Recital takes place at St. John's Church this Sunday, January 9, at 8 p.m. Tickets are available from Opus 1 on Reid Street (Tel.295-8073), Meyer Agencies Ltd. (Tel. 295-4176), or at the door.

Patrons' tickets are $20, adults $15 and $10 for students and senior citizens.

Proceeds will go towards a new building for the Dunbarton School of Music.

MARGARET FOX: Debut at St. John's Church this week.