Young Peterson's classical query

Re: “New square to honour jazz great Oscar Peterson” (Montreal Gazette, Sept. 1) Audrey Mcgraw (née Speirs) was a retired piano teacher and a longtime friend of my family. She died in August. She had recently told me about being with renowned piano teacher Yvonne Hubert when a young Oscar Peterson visited Hubert at the Provincial Conservatory.

Mcgraw knew Peterson from their days together at the High School of Montreal. He played a piece by Bach and asked for Hubert's advice about whether he could pursue a classical career. Hubert told him that the level of racism in the classical music world would make a career difficult if not impossible. Edmund Coates, St-laurent