Artistic director: Walter Boudreau
The “enfant terrible” of the Quebec contemporary music scene, composer and conductor, Walter Boudreau has signed off on sixty musical creations for diverse arrangements, including many film scores, theater and ballet. Known worldwide for his 1970’s collaboration with the poet, Raôul Duguay (Infonie), he quickly made his mark in art music after studying with Gilles Tremblay, Bruce Mather and Serge Garant, followed by internships at Kagel, Stockhausen and with Ligeti, Messiaen, Xenakis and Boulez.
Boudreau worked for several years as a conductor, on occasion for the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ). In 1988, he was named, artistic director. From the start he proposed programs highlighted by a new eclectism and initiated “unique” projects, anchoring the institution in the cultural milieu. For example, the monumental Millennium Symphony (2000), the establishment of the Montréal/Nouvelles Musique (MNM, 2003) Biennale International Festival, as well as the Homage Series, which pays tribute to our composers (2007).
Throughout these activities, Walter Boudreau never stopped working as a composer, accumulating honours from all horizons — among others the remarkable Concerto de l’asile, written for the pianist, Alain Lefèvre, and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (2013). He has garnered recognition both as a composer and an artistic director, and has received many prestigious awards, including being named “Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Québec”.
“Imagine a cross between Xenakis, Frank Zappa and Pierre Boulez … The brutal energy of the first, the strange iconoclasticism of the second and the tight construction of the third… Nervous, electric, powerful, soft, complex, until it becomes microcosmic: here is the Walter Boudreau of L’Odysée du Soleil and Demain les Etoiles. Add the irreverent partnership of poet Raôul Duguay and one attains Golgotha.”
Simon Bertrand
Stemming as much from the jazz as the classical genres, the music of Simon Bertrand simultaneously blends European and non-Western aesthetics. His works have been interpreted in numerous countries by Trio Maurice Duruflé (France), Pro Musica Nipponia (Japan), the Danish Saxophone Quartet, (Denmark), Ruse Philharmonic Orchestra and the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra (China) and broadcast on Radio France, Radio-Canada and NHK (Japan). Supported by the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the Japanese Government (Bunka-cho,) from 1998 till 2001, Bertrand was in Japan, creating numerous works for Japanese traditional instruments. Upon his return to Montréal in 2001, he became composer-in-residence at the Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur until 2003. In 2004 he won the 1st prize for composition with the Orchestre Symphonique de l’Université de Montréal, and since then has been a regular junior lecturer at the university, obtaining his doctorate in composition in 2008. In 2008-09, the SMCQ selected Bertrand for its La SMCQ dans l’empire du milieu project, within the framework of the Shanghai Spring Festival, in coproduction with Radio-France and Shanghai Media Group. In July 2011, he became composer-in-residence with the OSDL (Orchestre Symphonique de Longueuil). In 2012, Bertrand was awarded the Opus “Composer of the year” prize. He has also composed several film scores, one of them produced by Zentropa, the company run by Danish director Lars Von Trier.
Sandeep Bhagwati
Sandeep Bhagwati is a multiple award-winning composer, theatre director and media artist. He studied at Mozarteum Salzburg (Austria), Institut de Coordination Acoustique/Musique IRCAM Paris (France) and graduated with a Diploma 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 lead 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 was also a guest professor at Heidelberg University in 2009. 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”, inter-traditional aesthetics, the aesthetics of interdisciplinarity, gestural theatre, sonic theatre and interactive visual and non-visual scores. Since 2010, he is also the director of Hexagram Concordia, a centre for researchcreation in media arts with a faculty of 45 artist-researchers and extensive state-ofthe-art facilities.
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 (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 CAC, CALQ and CIRMMT. His works have been performed by Toronto’s New Music Concerts, by trombonist/conductor Alain Trudel, Vйronique Lacroix (ECM +), Lorraine Vaillancourt (NEM), Diotima string quartet, McGill Percussion Ensemble, Ensemble Chorum, Sylvio Gualda and many others.
Nicolas Gilbert
Born in 1979, Nicolas Gilbert studied composition and analysis at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal with composers Michel Gonneville and Serge Provost, and also received training in mandarin Chinese at Nankai University (Tianjin, China), and in Russian at St-Petersburg State University (Russia).
His catalogue comprises about 20 chamber, vocal and orchestral works that have been performed in a number of Canadian cities as well as in the US, France, Italy, United Kingdom, Ireland, Serbia-Montenegro, Kosovo, Estonia, Russia and China. He has received several grants since 2000, from various arts councils in Québec and Canada as well as from the Fonds Québécois de Recherche sur la Société et la Culture. In 2003, he was finalist in the Lepo Sumera International Composition Competition and was selected to participate in the 21st Century Young Composers Project (Chicago). He also received prizes for two in the SOCAN Foundation young composers competition.
Gilbert has completed commissions for the Trio Fibonacci, the Ensemble Contemporain de Montréal, the Quasar saxophone quartet, the Société Codes d’accès, cellist Benjamin Carat, pianist Kadri-Ann Sumera, and soprano Janice Jackson. His works have also been performed by groups such as the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, the International Contemporary Ensemble, the Kovalis Duo, the Ensemble Alizé, and the Boehm Flute Quartet, among others. Forthcoming projects include commissions for the Kaida Trio (Amsterdam), Continuum Contemporary Music (Toronto), clarinettist Thomas Piercy (New York) and Bradyworks (Montréal).
Festival performances include the biennial Musiques en Scène festival (Lyon, 2004), the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival (2004), the Prishtina New Music Festival (2004), ICE Fest 2004 (Chicago), the Estonian Music Days (Tallinn, 2003), the Milano Oltro Festival (2003), the Venice Biennial (2002), and BizArt Festival (Shanghai, 2002).
Nicolas Gilbert is currently resident composer at the Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur in Montréal, and is completing a doctoral degree in composition at McGill University under the supervision of John Rea. Since 2002, he has been president of the Société Codes d’accès, a non-profit organization founded in 1989 and dedicated to the promotion of contemporary music. He recently entered into agreements with the British publisher Edition HH, and some of his earlier works were published by Éditions Jobert (Paris) and Éditions BIM (Vuarmarens, Switzerland).
André Hamel
A composer of both instrumental and electroacoustic music, André Hamel, born in 1955, came to composition through rock music. In the early 1980’s, he began composition studies at the University of Montréal under the direction of Serge Garant, followed by Michel Longtin with whom he finished his Master’s Degree in 1993. Hamel’s music has been heard in Montréal, Toronto, Brussels, and Sofia (Bulgaria). Most of his works has been broadcast by Radio-Canada. In 1985, Hamel was one of the founders of the Société des Concerts alternatifs du Québec (currently, Codes d’accès), which he presided from 1987 to 1990. Preoccupied with the physical space of sound, Hamel also has a passion for “cultural and historical space.” Through his works, Hamel has developed a musical concept, which he calls “polyreality” or “metamusic,” where musical elements which bear little or no relation to each other inhabit the same sound world. He is a member of the composers’ collective Espaces sonores illimités (ESI). Lately, he was awarded the Joseph F-Sataufer Prize from the Conseil des Arts du Canada.
Chantale Laplante
Chantale Laplante, compositeure, improvisateure et artiste sonore, a fait des études de composition à l’Université de Montréal et poursuivi des perfectionnements en cours particuliers auprès des compositeurs de renom Francis Dhomont et Jonathan Harvey. Ses travaux explorent les genres musique instrumentale, mixte et électroacoustique, l’improvisation avec ordinateur et plus récemment l’approche in situ. Ses œuvres, résultants de commandes ou de projets de recherche-création, ont été présentées en Europe, en Amérique du Nord, et en Asie (Japon). Sa pratique en improvisation avec ordinateur a entre autres mené à la production du disque Brilliant Days sur l’étiquette For4Ears et sa nomination au palmarès «top ten» de la revue anglaise Wire. Elle a été artiste en résidence dans plusieurs centres d’artistes au Canada et en Europe, dont le Centre d’arts contemporains de Glasgow, le Centre d’arts de Banff, la Internationale Künstlerhaus Villa Concordia en Allemagne. Elle est active dans sa communauté par des publications respectivement dans la revue Circuit et le site cettevilleetrange.org, par son travail d’enseignante contractuelle à l’École de musique Vincent d’Indy, et par ses réalisations radiophoniques à CKUT-90, 3 FM (Mtl). Boursière du FQRSC depuis l’automne 2011, elle est doctorante en Études et pratiques des arts à l’Université du Québec à Montréal auprès de Joanne Lalonde, en codirection avec Sandeep Bhagwati (Université Concordia). À l’automne 2013, elle était au Japon (Tokyo et Kyoto) pour poursuivre une recherche sonore en immersion dans les jardins japonais. Ses recherches portent sur son concept de l’hyperécoute et l’expérimentation du genre installation-concert qui a finalement donné lieu à l’événement Intra-muros présenté en juin 2014 dans tout le complexe architectural du Cœur des Sciences. À l’automne 2014, elle présentera une création radiophonique autour de l’œuvre CARNETs de l’auteure Marie-Line Laplante avec qui elle forme le collectif MLC. Au printemps 2015, avec le soutien d’une bourse recherche-création du Conseil des arts du Canada, elle entreprendra un projet autour de l’œuvre ouverte et l’expérimentation de nouveaux modes de diffusion.
Simon Martin
Simon Martin was born in Rouyn-Noranda in 1981. Composer of instrumental contemporary concert music, Simon Martin (1981) graduated from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal (2006). Finalist for the Jules Léger Prize (2008), his music has been performed throughout Canada, in the United States and many European countries and has been broadcast by CBC Radio 2 and Espace musique. He is president/founder of Projections libérantes (2011), a production company for which he is artistic director. Based on critical and philosophic reflection, his work aims to be a poetic and symbolic representation of the reconciliation between humankind and matter — between sound and music. This is the subject of the Doctoral thesis he has undertaken at Université de Montréal (2012) with the support of the Fonds de recherche québécois sur la société et la culture. His articles have been published by many magazines and newspapers (Circuit, Spirale, Argument, L’Action nationale, Le Devoir and Le Couac). He his Prize Winner of the Concours d’articles de vulgarisation de la recherche de la Société québécoise de recherche en musique (2013).
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 Bozzini Quartet, 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.
Serge Provost
Serge Provost studied music at the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec à Montréal, mainly with Gilles Tremblay, and at the Conservatoire National de Paris with Claude Baliff. He also studied composition at the IRCAM (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique) during the year 1995/96. He received a special distinction from the Italia Prize in 1993 for L’Adorable verrotière and La Cloche du Temple. He won the Opus Prize for the Year’ musical creation in 1997 from Le Conseil québecois de la musique for Le Vampire et la Nymphomane. Serge Provost is teaching composition and musical analysis at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal.
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. His works combine music, live audiovisual and robotics, computing being at the root of it all. 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 Onyx Ensemble. His work was also awarded several recognitions, including the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music in 2004.
Ana Sokolović
Ana Sokolović was born in 1968 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. She studied composition at the University of Novi Sad with Dusan Radic and at the University of Belgrade with Zoran Eric, prior to completing her master’s degree at the Université de Montréal with José Evangelista. Her repertoire includes orchestral and piano works and several chamber music compositions. She has also written numerous theatrical scores. Between 1995 and 1998, Ana Sokolović received three awards from the SOCAN Foundation Young Composers’ Competition. In 1999, she was awarded two prizes in the CBC National Young Composers’ Competition, first prize in the “Chamber music” category, and the major prize, in “All categories.” In 2005, Ana Sokolović received the Joseph S. Stauffer Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts. In 2007, she was awarded the Opus Prize for “Composer of the year” and in 2008, the SOCAN Jan V. Matejcek Prize for the “présence exceptionnelle de la musique de concert pour l’année écoulée“ (exceptional concert music presence during the past year). In December 2009, she received an award from the National Arts Center in Ottawa consisting of commissions, artist-in-residencies and teaching projects for the next five years. In 2005 she created her first opera, The Midnight Court, performed by the Queen of Puddings Music Theater Co. During the summer of 2006 the work had its European premiere at London’s Royal Opera House. Currently she teaches composition at the Université de Montréal. In 2011-12, Ana Sokolović was the Société de Musique Contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ) Homage Series composer, an event where her works were showcased at more than one hundred events and concerts.
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.