Search for "New France"

Talivaldis Kenins, composer, professor (b at Liepäja, Latvia 23 April 1919, d at Toronto 20 January 2008).

Gilles (Joseph Roger) Auger. Conductor, b Quebec City 7 Mar 1957; premier prix chamber music (CMQ) 1979, deuxième prix clarinet (CMQ) 1981, M MUS conducting (Juilliard) 1983.

Claire Martin, pseudonym of Claire Montreuil (b at Québec C 18 Apr 1914). She studied with the Ursulines (in Québec City) and the Dames de la Congrégation (in BEAUPORT). She won the Prix du Cercle du livre de France (1958) for her first book, a collection of short stories called Avec ou sans amour.

René Boutet. Tenor, b Quebec City 16 Oct 1963; M MUS (Laval) 1990. He studied 1983-4 at the CMQ, then 1984-90 with Louise André at Laval University. In 1986 he won the finals of the Canadian Music Competitions.

Harvey (Joel) Olnick. Musicologist, teacher, b New York 18 Dec 1917, d Toronto 30 Oct 2003; B SC (City, New York) 1940, MA (Columbia) 1948. He began to study piano at The Institute of Musical Art (now the Juilliard School) at six.

Louis Caron, journalist, writer (b at Sorel, Qué 21 July 1942). He quit his classical studies to try several trades before becoming a journalist 1960-76, with Radio-Canada, Le Nouveliste of Trois-Rivières and the Québec government. After 1976 he devoted himself to writing.

Ephrem Longpré, historian, philosopher (b at Woonsocket, RI 24 Aug 1890; d at Paris, France 19 Oct 1965). His defence of the philosophy of Joannes Duns Scotus played a role in the background of Vatican II and in the opening of Catholic thought to traditions other than that of St Thomas.

Jean Girard. Organist, serpent player, schoolmaster (b Bourges, France, 8 Aug 1696, d Montreal 23 Feb 1765). The son of a master baker, he was admitted 5 May 1704 to the choir school of Bourges' Sainte-Chapelle, where for eight years he received a thorough training as a church musician.

Leslie Holmes. Baritone, teacher, b Lesser Slave Lake, Alta, 30 Apr 1901. His father was the bishop of Moosonee. Holmes studied singing in Toronto with Albert Ham at the Canadian Academy of Music and in London with Harry Plunkett Greene at the RCM. He also studied in France and Germany.

Boutal emigrated with her family from Brittany to Manitoba in 1907. She studied art at the Winnipeg Art Club from 1911 to 1914 and, following a brief stay in France, returned to work as a women's fashion illustrator for the Eaton's catalogue at the graphic art firm Brigdens of Winnipeg Ltd.

Having spent many years as a rock musician Dolden brings a concern with the visceral physicality of this form to the realm of tape composition. Often criticized for the extremely loud playback levels at his concerts, the composer explains that '... the listener is completely engulfed in sound.

(Frédéric) Ernest (Amédée) Gagnon. Organist, folklorist, teacher, historian, writer, administrator, b Rivière-du-Loup-en-haut (now Louiseville), near Trois-Rivières, Que, 7 Nov 1834, d Quebec City 15 Sep 1915; D LITT (Laval).

​Richard Desjardins, author, composer, singer, director and actor (born 16 March 1948 in Rouyn, Québec).

​Jacques Savoie, Acadian musician, author, screenwriter (born 3 February 1951 in Edmundston, NB).

Daniel Bélanger, singer-songwriter, author (born 26 December 1961 in Montréal, Québec). A contemporary lyricist with a dreamer’s sensibility, Daniel Bélanger became a towering figure on Canada’s francophone music scene in the 1990s. Ever since, he has reached for the heights, composing songs and writing lyrics of outstanding richness and profundity.

(Joseph) Peter Barcza. Baritone, teacher, b Stockholm, of Hungarian parents, 23 Jun 1949, naturalized Canadian 1957; diploma, opera performance (Toronto) 1971.

Normandeau, Robert. Composer, b Quebec City 11 Mar 1955; B MUS (Laval) 1984, M MUS (Montreal) 1988.

Thomas Alvin Kines, tenor, folklorist, ballad historian, multi-instrumentalist, broadcaster, administrator (born 3 August 1922 in Roblin, MB; died 1 February 1994 in Ottawa, ON).

Claude (André) Dubois. Singer-songwriter, born Montréal 24 Apr 1947.

Mireille Lagacé (nee Bégin), organist, harpsichordist, teacher (b at St-Jérôme, Qué, 8 Jun 1935). Lagacé studied in Montréal with Germaine Malépart (piano), Conrad Letendre (organ), and Gabriel Cusson (theory).