Artistic director: Walter Boudreau
Composer and conductor Walter Boudreau has created over sixty works for various types of ensembles, as well as fifteen film scores and two ballets. His works have been performed in Canada, the United States, France, Belgium, Germany, Poland, and Finland. In 1998 he was awarded the prix Opus “Composer of the year” (Conseil québécois de la musique). Since 1988 Boudreau has been artistic director and principal conductor of the Ensemble de la Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ). In 1990 he was appointed as the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s first composer in residence for a period of three years. Boudreau has directed various contemporary music group. With Denys Bouliane, he assumed the artistic direction of the Millennium Symphony (2000) and the Montréal/New Music Festival (MNM) (2003-05-07). Jointly they received the prix Opus “Musical Event of the year.” Among other distinctions, in 2003 Boudreau was awarded the Molson Prize by the Canada Council for the Arts, quickly followed in 2004 by the Prix Denise-Pelletier for the performing arts (Prix du Québec). In 2013 he was appointed as a Chevalier de l’Ordre du Québec, named as a Member of the Order of Canada. He has received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award in the classical music category in 2015.
Simon Bertrand
It is only at age 24, after studies at the Montréal Conservatory in performance on the clarinet and the saxophone, that Simon Bertrand decided to commit himself fully to composition, after participating in a life-changing seminar with french master Henri Dutilleux. Since then, after getting a first price at the conservatory in France with composer Claude Ballif, and then a doctorate in composition José Evangelista and Denis Gougeon, Simon Bertrand has established himself has one of canada’s most prolific and active composers of his generation, in canada and abroad. His works have been performed in numerous countries by orchestras, ensembles and soloists such as the the Montréal and Quebec Symphony, Toronto and Edmonton Symphony, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Gustav Mahler Orchestra (Hong-Kong), Orchestre National d’île de France, l’Ensemble de la SMCQ, le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Quasar, the New Danish Saxophone Quartet, Utrecht String Quartet (Holland), Friction Quartet (USA), Pro Musica Nipponia (Japan), flautists Guy Pelletier et Claire Marchand, clarinetists Jean Guy Boisvert, Simon Aldrich et Lori Freedman, pianist Louise Bessette, soprano Marianne Lambert, mezzo Marie-Annick Béliveau, violist Brian Bacon et Marina Thibault, and theremin player Thorwald Jorgensen (Holland). He has been awarded several prices, most notably the Opus “Composer of the year” prize in 2013. He has also composed several film scores, one of them produced by Zentropa, company founded by Danish director Lars Von Trier, and more recently the score of Chloé Robichaud’s film «Boundaries”.
Sandeep Bhagwati
Sandeep Bhagwati is a multiple awardwinning composer, theatre director and media artist. He studied at Mozarteum Salzburg (Austria), Institut de Coordination Acoustique/Musique IRCAM Paris (France) and graduated with a Diplom in Composition from Hochschule für Musik und Theater München (Germany) His compositions and comprovisations in all genres (including 6 operas) have been performed by leading performers at leading venues and festivals worldwide. He has directed international music festivals and intercultural exchange projects with Indian and Chinese musicians and leading new music ensembles. He was a Professor of Composition at Karlsruhe Music University, and Composer-in-Residence at the IRCAM Paris, ZKM Center for Arts and Media Karlsruhe, Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, Institute for Electronic Music Graz, CalArts Los Angeles, Heidelberg University and Tchaikovsky Conservatory Moscow. He also was a guest professor at Heidelberg University in 2009 and has been invited as a visiting research fellow to the University of Arts Berlin in 2013/14.
As Canada Research Chair for Inter-X Arts at Concordia University Montréal since 2006 he currently directs matralab, a research/creation center for intercultural and interdisciplinary arts. His current work centers on comprovisation, intertraditional aesthetics, the aesthetics of interdisciplinarity, gestural theatre, sonic theatre and interactive visual and nonvisual scores. From 2008 to 2011, he also was the director of Hexagram Concordia, a centre for research-creation in media arts with a faculty of 45 artist-researchers and extensive state-of-the-art facilities. Since 2013, he also is the artistic director and conductor of Ensemble Extrakte Berlin.
Charles-Antoine Fréchette
Canadian composer of chamber, choral and piano works that have been performed in Europe and North America. Charles-Antoine Fréchette studied choral singing with Gilbert Patenaude and piano with Marie Roby at the Maîtrise des Petits Chanteurs du Mont-Royal in Montréal from 1991—99 and piano with Claude Labelle at the École de musique Vincent-d’Indy in Montréal from 1999—2001. He later studied composition with Michel Gonneville at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal from 2001—07 and has studied composition at McGill University in Montréal since 2007. Among his honours are the Médaille du Gouverneur Général from the École de musique Vincent-d’Indy (2001), First Prize in the category Piano in the competition for young composers of the CBC (2003, for Trajectoire) and two prizes in the category Solo-Duo of the competition for young composers of SOCAN Foundation (First Prize, 2004, for Soledad Sonora; Third Prize, 2004, for Transfiguration). He is currently working on a doctorate in composition at McGill University under the supervision of Philippe Leroux. He has received grants and commissions from the CCA, CALQ and CIRMMT. His works have been performed by Toronto’s New Music Concerts, by trombonist/conductor Alain Trudel, Véronique Lacroix (ECM+), Lorraine Vaillancourt (NEM), Diotima string quartet, McGill Percussion Ensemble, Ensemble Chorum, Sylvio Gualda and many others.
Chantale Laplante
Chantal Laplante first practiced her musical art by way of her academic training in classical piano, and then jazz piano to eventually dedicate herself entirely to composition. Following her studies with Prévost, Longtin, Dhomont (scholarship) and Harvey (Lewes, RU), she explored several genres: instrumental, mixed, electroacoustic and computer-assisted improvisation (Brillant Days was an award-winning CD by The Wire Magazine).
While Composer-in-Residence at the Internationales Künstlerhaus Villa Concordia in Bamberg (Germany) in 2003, Chantal Laplante’s artistic work found a new orientation: her approach and works continuously attempt to transmit and transcend a tonal reality that encompasses the entire human body.
She expands this experience in her productions where the concert is a work-in-process, in which the music and the immediate surroundings are here with us as a whole, no longer for us and around us! It becomes an invitation to a sensorial and perceptive experience, “in which the body is to the world what the heart is to itself.”
Simon Martin
Born in Rouyn-Noranda (Quebec), Simon Martin (1981-) is a composer and producer of contemporary concert music. Founding director of Projections libérantes (2011), he has up to now been involved in four productions:
- Hommage à Leduc, Borduas et Riopelle (2012) was presented in front of some 800 spectators during 8 concerts in addition to a broadcast by national public radio (ICI Musique, 2014) and a recording production (DAME / Collection QB, 2015) finalist for the Opus Disc of the Year award — modern, contemporary music.
- Musique d’art pour quintette à cordes (2015) premiered as part of the Festival Montréal/Nouvelles musiques before resuming in Dresden (Festspielhaus Hellerau, 2016), Quebec (Erreur de type 27, 2017) and Montréal (Suoni Per Il Popolo/Le Vivier, 2018) in addition to a broadcast by German public radio (Deutschlandfunk, 2017) and a record production (DAME /Collection QB, 2019).
- Musique d’art pour cor, trombone, tuba et électronique (2017) premiered in co-diffusion with Le Vivier and was interpreted by the Berlin ensemble Zinc & Copper. The work was finalist for the Opus Prize — Creation of the Year (2016-17).
- Musique d’art pour violon, alto, violoncelle, contrebasse et traitement will be created by Ensemble Musikfabrik on February 24, 2019 as a part of the Festival Montréal/Nouvelles musiques et replayed in Cologne on March 11, 2019.
Following the American composers Harry Partch, The Monte Young and James Tenney, Simon Martin’s music focuses more and more accurately on natural intonation. Through his concert-works, always imbued with drama, he preserves part of the ambition of the great forms of German postromanticism.
Simon Martin is the recipient of the Opus Composer of the Year Award (2016) with a $ 10,000 scholarship from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec.
Pierre Michaud
Born in 1974 in New-Brunswick, Pierre Michaud is an assistant-professor of composition at the Université de Montréal Music Faculty. He holds a doctorate degree in composition from the Université de Montréal Music Faculty with complimentary studies at the Jan Levoslav Bella Conservatory in Slovakia, Université de Moncton, Mount Allison University and IRCAM in Paris. Heard in concert series and festivals across Canada, Central America, Asia and Europe, his works have been performed by: the Quatuor Bozzini, SMCQ, Susan Narucki, the Shanghai Symphony, the Winnipeg Symphony, the CBC Radio Orchestra, the Bratislava Chamber Soloists amongst others. His music has been aired nationally on Slovak State Radio, CBC Radio Two and Espace musique.
Patrick Saint-Denis
Patrick Saint-Denis studied composition at the music conservatories in Québec, Montréal, and La Haye, mathematics at UQAM and at Université Laval, as well as computer science online. He obtained a Doctorate in Composition from University of Montréal in 2014. He conceives interactive installations designed primarily for concert settings. His audio-sensitive inventions take on various forms, ranging from video installation to large-scale robotized machinery. His performances integrate various musical formations which sonically drive the installations. At the edges of the concert format and digital art, his works are also shown in exhibitions. Among other instances, his work was showcased on the occasion of the International Digital Arts Biennial (BIAN/Elektra, 2014), at the Musée national des beaux arts du Québec (2013) and through Accès culture Montréal (2013). His music has been presented at festivals such as the International Gaudeamus Music Week (Netherlands, 2003, 2004), the Montréal Nouvelles Musiques Festival (Canada, 2005, 2009, 2015), the ISCM World Music Days (Croatia 2005, Slovakia 2013), the Mois Multi (Canada, 2008, 2014), the Cervantino Festival (Mexico, 2009) and at the ICMC (United Kingdom, 2011). His music has been performed by top ensembles such as the Trio Fibonacci, ECM+, the Continuum Ensemble and the Onix Ensemble. His work was also awarded several recognitions, including the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music in 2004.
Ana Sokolović
An important figure in contemporary music, the composer Ana Sokolović has distinguished herself both in Canada and internationally. Her works, infused with Balkan rhythms, are influenced by different artistic disciplines and seduce an ever-growing audience, drawing them into a vividly imagined world. Her success is revealed through prestigious collaborations with Canadian orchestras, leading artists on the musical scene, as well as many Quebecois chamber music ensembles. Her varied repertoire, which has received numerous awards and prizes, includes several productions of her operas, such as Svadba which «seems to invent a phonetic universe of the human heart» (Le Monde) and The Midnight Court, which was produced at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. In addition to her activities as a composer, Ana Sokolović is also a professor of composition at the University of Montréal.
Roxanne Turcotte
After piano studies at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, Roxanne Turcotte focused on composition and music technology, earning a master’s degree in electroacoustic composition from the Université de Montréal, where she studied under Marcelle Deschênes, Francis Dhomont and Serge Garant. Active as a composer and sound designer, Turcotte has built her aesthetics around a cinema-like art of integration. She also creates and performs music for television, cinema, radio, the stage, the Internet, and circus arts, in addition to creating sound, music, and visual installations. She is asked to sit on composition juries, and she regularly performs composition training sessions and workshops. The music of Roxanne Turcotte has won numerous awards and distinctions: 6th “Villes manifestes” Radio Art Competition (La Muse en circuit, France, 2005), Bourges Electroacoustic and Sound Art International Competition (France, 2005, ’07, ’08), and Prix collégien de musique contemporaine (Sherbrooke, Québec, 2010). Roxanne Turcotte is currently working on the integration of sound installations and live performance.