Clermont Pépin

Clermont Pépin completed his musical studies in Montréal, Philadelphia, Toronto and Paris. He has won several awards, including three scholarships from the Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada (CAPAC, now SOCAN), the Prix d’Europe in 1949 and the Radio-Luxembourg composition prize in 1955. He served as director of the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal from 1967 to 1973, national president of the Jeunesses musicales of Canada from 1967 to 1972, and president of CAPAC from 1981 to 1983. He subsequently returned to teaching at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal until September 1987. In 1970, he received the Calixa-Lavallée prize from the Société Saint Jean Baptiste, which also awarded him the Bene Merenti de Patria medal for the entire corpus of his work and for his service to Quebec music. Named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1981 for his contribution to the advancement of music in the country, Pépin has written more than 80 works for various musical ensembles, pieces that have been performed in Canada, the U.S., Europe, South America and Japan. His compositional oeuvre has also been the subject of several master’s and doctoral theses, as well as articles for scholarly journals. In November of 2003, Pépin delivered a lecture as a Michener Visitor in the French department at Queen’s University.