Louise Laplante

Laplante, Louise

(Marie Irène) Louise Laplante. Administrator, teacher, b Montreal 2 Oct 1943; B MUS (Montreal) 1966, M MUS piano (Montreal) 1967, BES (Quebec Department of Education) 1968, L MUS (Montreal) 1972. She studied 1962-8 at the École normale de musique with Claude Champagne (theory) and Jean Leduc and William Stevens (piano). In 1971 she took a course in ethnomusicology with Laszlo Vikar at UQAM and a course in Amerindian ethnology at the University of Montreal, where her regular studies 1968-72 were with Françoise Aubut (fugue), André Prévost and Serge Garant (analysis), and Maryvonne Kendergi (history and musicology). As a pianist she won prizes in 1959, 1961, and 1962 at the Quebec Music Festivals (Canadian Music Competitions) and appeared in several concerts, notably in 1962 at Plateau Hall with the MSO.

Laplante taught 1969-73 at the École normale de musique and gave courses 1970-6 in music literature, the history of Canadian music, and ethnomusicology at UQAM. She lectured at the University of Quebec at Chicoutimi, at UQTR and taught at the École Vincent-d'Indy. In 1974 and 1975 the Quebec Dept of Education published her teaching guides to three works by, respectively, Morel, Champagne, and Schafer. She edited Compositeurs canadiens contemporains (Montreal 1977, the French-language edition of Contemporary Canadian Composers) and the Canadian Music Centre brochures Compositeurs au Québec (Montreal 1974-80). She served 1973-80 as Quebec regional director of the CMCentre and in 1979 participated in the founding of the Éditions Québec-Musique. She was general director 1981-6 of the OJQ, then head 1986-8 of the music and opera section of the Canada Council and was appointed general director in 1988 of the Quebec Symphony Orchestra.

Writings

'Essai de systématisation de chants amérindiens,' L MUS thesis, University of Montreal 1972

'Essai d'analyse d'un chant montagnais,' Recherches amérindiennes au Québec, vol 11, Apr 1972

'A portrait of contemporary music in Quebec,' Numus West, vol 11, Spring 1975

'Le centre de musique canadienne à Montréal,' L'Interdit, 253, Sep-Oct 1976

'Michel Longtin,' MSc, 292, Nov-Dec 1976

'En coulisse, le Centre de musique canadienne,' Variations, vol 1, Jan 1978