Ida Halpern
Halpern in 1943 | |
| Born | Ida Ruhdörfer July 17, 1910 |
| Died | February 7, 1987 (aged 76) |
| Nationality | Austrian citizenship |
| Citizenship | Canadian citizenship |
| Alma mater | Ph.D., musicology, University of Vienna, 1938 |
| Known for | Collecting, recording, and transcribing music of Native Americans of coastal British Columbia (particularly the Kwakiutl) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Ethnomusicologist |
| Institutions | University of Shanghai, University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University |
| Academic advisors | Robert Lach, Egon Wellesz, Robert Haas |
Ida Halpern (née Ruhdörfer; July 17, 1910 – February 7, 1987) was a Canadian ethnomusicologist.
Halpern was born in Vienna, Austria-Hungary (now Austria). She arrived in Canada in order to flee Nazism in her native country (Anschluss), becoming a Canadian citizen in 1944. She worked among Native Americans of coastal British Columbia during the mid-20th century, collecting, recording, and transcribing their music and documenting its use in their cultures. Many of these recordings were released as LPs, with extensive liner notes and transcriptions. More recently, her collection has also been released digitally.