Michelle Boudreau

Michelle Boudreau. Composer, born Gravelbourg, Sask., 24 Mar 1956; MA (Montréal) 1982, B MUS (Montréal) 1979.

Background

Michelle Boudreau moved to Quebec as a young child. She briefly studied piano, but was mainly self-taught until a prize in 1972 prompted her to pursue music seriously. She studied with Edna Marie Hawkin and later attended l'École Vincent d'Indy (1973- 75). She graduated in composition from the Université de Montréal and continued her interest in electroacoustic music at McGill University's Digital Composition Studios (formerly Electronic Music Studio).

Boudreau has won composition awards from CAPAC (1983 and 1985) and has received support from the Canada Council for the Arts and several Québec musical organizations. In 1986, she founded the Musiques Itinérantes MI Ltée, a Montreal new music ensemble, of which she was the artistic director and which has performed her works.

Compositions and Performances

Boudreau has composed for solo instrument, voice, chamber ensemble, full orchestra, and a range of electroacoustic combinations. Her particular interest in the inter-relationships between music and the visual and dramatic arts, have also led her to compose for musical theatre.

A strong exponent of electro-acoustic music, her works have been performed in Canada by the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, ARRAYMUSIC, the Vancouver Symphony, at the Festival des musiques du création in Saguenay- Lac-Saint- Jean, and for the Conseil québécois de la sculpture. Performances in the USA have included the Festival Phantasmagoria in Buffalo, in Portland Oregon, San Diego and elsewhere. Internationally, her music has been played in Germany, England, Italy, Poland at various festivals including the International Society for Contemporary Music's World Music Days in Romania (1999) and Luxembourg (2000). In 2008, she was one of a group of composers-in-residence at the Visby International Centre for Composers in Sweden.

The première of L'Etoile libre for mezzo-soprano, live electronic treatment and film (2008) took place at the Montréal New Music International Festival in 2011 at the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts.

Her discography includes Ma magie (2003), Des passages de charnière et autres pièces (2004), Les roches chantent (2007), and L'étoile libre (2012) all by Disques Edition Mélusine. Entre Belacqua et Nell (2008) was released on the Canadian Music Centre Centrediscs label.