Search for "New France"

Marie-Danielle Parent. Soprano, b Montreal 11 Mar 1954; B MUS (Sherbrooke) 1976, M MUS (Montreal) 1978. She studied voice with Louise André and staging with Charlotte Boisjoli at the University of Montreal.

Louise Lebrun. Soprano, b Montreal 9 Jan 1940; Artist Diploma (École Vincent-d'Indy) 1964. She studied 1956-64 at the École Vincent-d'Indy with Sister Gertrude-des-Anges and Sister Reine Décarie (voice), Roy Royal (French art songs), Bernard Diamant (Lieder), and Pierrette Alarie (stage techniques).

​Jonathan Crombie, actor (born 12 October 1966 in Toronto, ON; died 15 April 2015 in New York, New York).

Peter McCutcheon. Guitarist, teacher, b Montreal 27 Jun 1951; B MUS (Montreal) 1972, premier prix guitar (Paris Cons) 1975. After taking lessons for six years with Florence Brown, he continued 1968-9 at the CMM with Marie Prével and 1969-72 at the University of Montreal with Marie and Martin Prével.

Lorraine Desmarais. Pianist, composer, teacher, b Montreal 15 Aug 1956; B MUS (Sherbrooke) 1977, M MUS (Sherbrooke) 1979.

Rémus (Pétru) Tzincoca. Conductor, composer, teacher, administrator, b Iassy, Rumania, 15 Sep 1915, naturalized Canadian 1965; diploma in orchestral conducting, theory, and pedagogy (Iassy Cons) 1938, premier prix conducting (Paris Cons) 1948.

Hannan, Peter. Composer, recorder player, b Montreal 19 Mar 1953; B MUS (British Columbia) 1975, Certificate of Advanced Studies (GSM) 1978. He studied recorder 1979-80 with Kees Boeke at the Sweelinck Cons under a Netherlands government scholarship and lived 1984-5 in London.

Kashtin. Popular Montagnais duo - the singer-songwriters and guitarists Florent Vollant (b Maliotenam, near Sept Îles, Que, 10 Aug 1959) and Claude McKenzie (b Schefferville, Que, 11 Mar 1967). Kashtin means 'tornado' in the Montagnais' Innu aimun language.

Anna Chornodolska. Soprano, b Vienna, of Ukrainian parents, 21 Apr 1946, naturalized Canadian 1956; premier prix (CMM) 1970, BA (McGill) 1970.

Houdy, Pierick. Composer, organist, pianist, choirmaster, teacher, b Rennes, France, 18 Jan 1929, naturalized Canadian 1976; premier prix composition (Paris Cons) 1954. He began his musical education at seven at the Rennes Cons.

His numerous commissions include Treppenmusic (1982), Over Time (1987) and Las Meninas (1990-91). He was composer-in-residence in Mannheim (1984) and for the Italian summer festival Incontri in Terra di Siena (1991).

Adam Gopnik, essayist, author, critic (born at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA 24 Aug 1956). While born in America, Gopnik was raised in Montréal, where he completed a BA at McGill University. He moved to New York, a city that remains his home, to attend graduate school.

Jan Hambourg. Violinist, b Voronezh, Russia, 27 Aug (Julian Calendar, 8 Sep) 1882, d Tours, France, 29 Sep 1947. He studied with Émile Sauret and August Wilhelmj in London, Hugo Heermann in Frankfurt, Otakar Ševčík in Prague, and Eugène Ysaÿe in Belgium.

Louis Bailly. Violist, teacher, b Valenciennes, France, 13 Jun 1882, naturalized Canadian 1950, d Cowansville, near Sherbrooke, Que, 21 Nov 1974; premier prix (Paris Cons) 1899, honorary D MUS (Curtis) 1930. He studied violin and viola at the Paris Cons.

William Kirby, novelist, journalist (b at Kingston-upon-Hull, Eng 23 Oct 1817; d at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont 23 June 1906).

​Claude Sauvage, author and professor (born in 1938 in Mascara, Algeria) immigrated to Québec in 1967.

Lisa LeBlanc, singer, songwriter, musician (born 13 August 1990 in Rosaireville, NB). Lisa LeBlanc has known success ever since her first album came out in 2012. Her music, which she describes as folk-trash with bluegrass and Cajun accents, reaches a wide audience. Her songs are often humorous accounts of the perils of love. She has been compared to Bob Dylan, Dolly Parton and even Quebec singer-songwriter Plume Latraverse. Beneath her often funny lyrics, there are pearls of poetry. Her choice of words and her relentless sincerity transform the ordinary and anecdotal into a thing of beauty. Listening to Lisa LeBlanc, one can easily be laughing one minute and all choked up the next. She belongs to a generation of young Acadian artists — such as the Hay Babies, Radio, Joseph Edgar and Les Hôtesses d’Hilaire — who are firmly grounded in modern life. She says that she has been influenced by Sam Roberts, Feist, Aerosmith and, most strongly, by Stevie Nicks. Since LeBlanc’s career began, her albums have sold slightly over 140,000 copies in North America and Europe. She composes and sings in both French and English. Winner of the 2010 Festival international de la chanson de Granby, she has won many other awards in New Brunswick and Quebec and across Canada. LeBlanc first made her name with a song whose title echoes its refrain, with which many of her fans seemed to identify: “Aujourd’hui, ma vie c’est d’la m—de”  (“Today, my life is s—t”).

Mary Cyr. Gambist, teacher, musicologist, b Fargo, N Dak, 20 Aug 1946, naturalized Canadian 1991; BA music (California, Berkeley) 1968, MA musicology (California, Berkeley) 1970, PH D (California, Berkeley) 1975.

Robert Roussil, sculptor (b at Montréal 1925). He studied fine arts with the Association artistique of Montréal, and from 1958 to 1978 lived in Tourettes-sur-Loup, France. In 1952 he suggested the idea of international sculpture symposia in Vienna.