"Jean Derome. Born Montréal, Québec, 1955. esidence: Montréal, Québec. Composer, Performer (saxophones (alto, baritone, soprano), flutes (flute, bass flute, piccolo, alto flute, recorders), keyboards, small wind instruments (ocarinas, jew's harp, game calls, toys...), percussion, invented instruments, voice)

One of the most active and eclectic musicians on the Canadian creative music scene, Jean Derome has managed to earn the recognition of a larger public, a rare feat in that field. Thanks to his large-scale musique actuelle projects, his compositions, his work as an improviser, his jazz groups and his music for the screen and the stage, Derome ranks as a major creative force, in Québec and abroad. He is experienced and innovative on both saxophone and flute, and his unique writing style cannot be mistaken for anyone else's. Sensitive and powerful, his music often features a funny strike that makes its complex nature more inviting.

Ever since Nébu (one of Québec's first avant-garde jazz groups) in the early '70s, Derome has been consistently renewing and diversifying his approach of composition. He impressed audience and critics first with the flute, then with the saxophone, as a lead character in the musique actuelle underground. He took part to the various artists' collectives looking for new ways to express themselves freely, without esthetic or social constraints, including the Ensemble de musique improvisée de Montréal. Later, in the early '80s, he co-founded Ambiances Magnétiques, a collective and record label that raised his profile at home and introduced his name to the outside world. Among his numerous projects, let us mention the duos Les Granules, Nous perçons les oreilles and Plinc! Plonc!, the dynamic group Jean Derome et les Dangereux Zhoms, and the large-scale projects Confitures de gagaku, Je me souviens - Hommage à Georges Perec and Canot-camping. Most of these projects are based on a unique form of synergy between composition, structured improvisation and genuine creative madness, all this articulated with unmatched playfulness. In 1992, Derome became the second artist to be presented with the Freddie Stone Award (bassist Lisle Ellis was the first).

Besides improvising on a regular basis with Ambiances Magnétiques' members and appearing in their projects, Derome has also shared the stage with several musicians of international stature, among others Fred Frith, Lars Hollmer, Louis Sclavis and Han Bennink. He performs regularly all over Canada, in the US and in Europe. He received a Prix Opus in 2001 for his exposure abroad.

Lately, jazz circles have been praising his undisputable qualities as a jazzman, thanks to the Thelonious Monk tribute project Évidence, the Normand Guilbeault Ensemble (whose Mingus Erectus CD is devoted to Charles Mingus' music), and the much-lauded Derome Guilbeault Tanguay Trio.

Although Jean Derome writes tirelessly for his own projects, he is much in demand in the fields of film, theatre and dance. A short list of this side of his work would have to include his numerous scores for the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), especially for films by John Walker, Jacques Leduc, Fernand Bélanger and animated films by Pierre Hébert, Michèle Cournoyer and Jean Detheux; his incidental music for Théâtre UBU, Théâtre de Quat'Sous and Théâtre du Nouveau Monde; not forgetting his work with several top choreographers, including Louise Bédard, Andrew de Lotbinière Harwood, Daniel Soulières and Ginette Laurin. Other music ensembles have commissioned works from him, including Tuyo, Bradyworks, the Hard Rubber Orchestra from Vancouver and Fanfare Pourpour. Incidentally, Derome is the musical director of the latter.

Over thirty years of music and 70 record credits later, Jean Derome still has sleeves bursting with tricks."

"His experiences are many and varied : soloist, chamber musician and improviser. He is comfortable in all musical idioms and has played with contemporary, classical, jazz, rock and word-music groups.

Mr. Pelletier has taken part in numerous premieres as well as in many tours of North America, Asia, Europe and Oceania. He has also recorded for many dozens of Canadian, American, French, as well as German radio concerts and performances in addition to more than fourthy CD's of various productions.

He was a member of Montreal's Nouvel Ensemble Moderne contemporary music ensemble, for 17 years and of the woodwind quintet Pentaèdre for 14 years. He is now member of Ensemble Transmission, sextet of contemporary music and plays in Expresso trio (jazz Brazilian music). Mr. Pelletier is also very active as a studio musician in Montreal and he teaches flute at Montreal's Concordia University and at Trois-Rivières College, east of Montreal.

Lastly, since many years, he has taken a very serious interest in flutes from other cultures -such as the Indian bansuri, the Chinese dize, the Arabic nay and the Bolivian quena."

"Lori Freedman. Born Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1958. Residence: Montréal, Québec. Composer, Performer (clarinet, bass clarinet)

Qualified as "a musical revolutionary in the front ranks of the avant-garde" by Alex Varty of the Georgia Straight (Vancouver), Lori Freedman (clarinets) is internationally recognized as one of the most creative and provocative performers. She is a member of a select group known as "renaissance musicians" as her artistic activities cover many fields: performer of written music (well over one hundred works have been written for or premiered by her), composer, improviser, teacher, and on occasion, writer. While managing a full performance schedule of more than 75 public appearances a year, Freedman has been receiving commissions to write music for ensembles such as Orkestra Futura, Arraymusic Ensemble, Ensemble Transmission, Continuum Contemporary Music Ensemble, Ensemble SuperMusique, Ensemble Paramirabo, Upstream Orchestra, Queen Mab Trio, Crowbar Trio, Lott Dance, Oberlander Films, Foresite Theatre, Cooke Productions and Autumn Leaf Productions. Her current discography comprises over 59 recordings, the most recent of which include Greffes (Empreintes digitales), On No (Mode Records), Bridge (Collection QB), Plumb (Barnyard Records), 3 and À un moment donné (Ambiances Magnétiques), Huskless! (Artifact), See Saw and Thin Air (Wig). Highlight collaborations include work with Rohan de Saram, Barre Phillips, Helmut Lachenmann, Frances-Marie Uitti, Monique Jean, Joëlle Léandre, Axel Dörner, George Lewis, the Jack Quartet and Richard Barrett."

"A student at the University of Montreal in the Seventies, Julien Grégoire is now a professor at the same faculty, and also teaches at Cégep Marie-Victorin. His long performance career includes regular performances with the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, the SMCQ, and Ensemble Transmission, as well as engagements with classical ensembles including the Grands Ballets Canadiens, the Early Music Studio of Montreal, and I Musici. With Guy Pelletier, he formed Duo Traces, which derives its creations from recorded improvisations. As a composer, Grégoire often finds his inspiration in images and form, adding unique textures to his works."

"A graduate of the University of Montreal under the direction of Laurence Kayaleh and Anne Robert, violinist Geneviève Liboiron is very active in Montreal's contemporary music scene. She collaborates regularly with ensemble Paramirabo, ensemble Wapiti and No Hay Banda, three eclectic new music projects of which the latter two she is a cofounder. She has performed with La Machine, Punctum, Allogène, the ECM+, the NEM, the Bradyworks, and the SMCQ ensembles, all dedicated to the promotion of new music. She has performed extensively throughout Europe, North and South America and across Canada. She has been awarded scholarships from the Kayaleh Academy of Geneva, the Orford Arts Centre and the Banff Arts Centre and teaches at Domaine Forget academy and Père Lindsay music camp. In great demand as an artist-in-residence at various new music festivals, Geneviève has been invited to perform at Harvard University, Simon Fraser University, the National University of Bogota and the Catholic University of Santiago, among others."

"After studying with Walter Joachim, Julie Trudeau continued her training in Paris with Philippe Muller thanks to a grant from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec. She has performed as a soloist with the Orchester de chambre de l'Estrie, the symphony orchestras of Sherbrooke, Drummondville, Gatineau and as a cellist with the Molinari Quartet (2000-2007) with the Orchester symphonique de Montréal under the direction of by Charles Dutoit and the Esprit Orchestra of Toronto under the direction of Alex Pauk.

Hailed by the press as a "great cellist" and a performer with "uncommon virtuosity and emotion", Julie Trudeau has been invited as a soloist and chamber musician to numerous festivals and concert societies in America, Europe and Asia. Very committed to the new generation of musicians, she works closely with young performers and is regularly called upon to guide the creative process of young composers in contemporary music. He can be heard on the ATMA, XXI-21, Naxos, Disc SRC labels and on Radio-Canada/CBC.

Julie Trudeau is a member of the Quatuor Ponticello, Ensemble Transmission and the renowned Nouvel Ensemble Moderne. A passionate chamber musician, she also collaborates with harpist Caroline Léonardelli and co-founded the Trio Montréal in 2014 with her partners Julie Triquet and Olivier Godin.

For several years, she has been teaching the cello privately as well as at the Joseph-François-Perrault school of the CSDM and at the Camp musical des Laurentides."

"An active soloist, chamber musician, vocal accompanist and teacher, my repertoire covers all periods from the invention to the deconstruction of the piano. A proponent of 20th and 21st century music, I have commissioned and premiered more than fifty works for solo and prepared piano, various chamber ensembles and larger conducted ensembles. My touring have brought me accross Europe and North America.

Aside from playing solo repertoire, my collaborations have shaped an important part of my life. My faithful collborators include the doublebassist Ali Yazdanfar, singers Ingrid Schmithüsen, Andréanne Brisson-Paquin and Vincent Ranallo, pianist Jean Marchand, as well as the members of Ensemble Transmission : Jocelyne Roy, flute, Stéphane Fontaine, clarinet, Alain Giguère, violin, Julie Trudeau, cello , and Julien Grégoire, percussion.

Having recorded more that a dozen commercial Cds, my most recent achievements include: Folklore imaginaire music by Ana Sokolović with Ensemble Transmission (Naxos) and Pierrot lunaire with Ingrid Schmithüsen (Atma).

I teach contemporary literature to pianists at the Schulich music School of McGill University and contribute to the conducting classes at Université de Montréal as a teaching assistant. In my private studio, I teach pianists of all ages and levels, classical, romantic and modern repertoire. I am regularly called upon to adjudicate Arts Councils grant proposals as well as Canadian Music Competitions, and performance exams. I am as well a member of the Summer Academy of the Domaine Forget since 2001."

"Michel F Côté. Born Montréal, Québec, 1958. Residence: Montréal, Québec. Composer, Performer (percussion).

Half a century later, now a grown-up, he still doesn't understand why he chose a career as a musician and composer instead of something else. With fluidity and idiocy, he gets involved with whomever he wants, thus avoiding any and all reductive labeling attempts. A Montréaler and a co-founder of the &records label, he stumbles around in various bands: bob, Klaxon, Pink Saliva, (juste) Claudette, and Mecha Fixes Clock. A designer associated with stage arts, he refuses to grow softer. As proof, in dance he adds his ear to the choreographies of Catherine Tardif, Sylvain Émard, Louise Bédard, Shanti Wadge, and José Navas; in theatre, he scratches his head alongside Wajdi Mouawad, Robert Lepage, Brigitte Haentjens, Éric Jean, and Martin Faucher. So what's left? He favours plants, suffers from music-loving, is rather clean overall, and tends to keep in shape."

"Jean-François Laporte is a Québecois artist, active on the contemporary art scene since the middle of the 1990s. He pursues an hybrid approach integrating sonic arts, musical composition, performance, interpretation, installation and digital art. Trained initially at the Université de Montréal (Québec), then at the Ircam

(Paris, France), he builds his compositional approach on active listening and observing of the reality of each phenomenon.

For the last ten years, he has invested a lot of energy to the development and to the building of new musical instruments that he integrates to his works and, since 2002, to his installations. He also works in collaboration with contemporary dancers.

Since he started in 1993, Jean-François Laporte has written more than sixty works that were premiered and performed both nationally and abroad. Him and his works have also received numerous prizes, of which many were given by the Conseil québécois de la musique (CQM), as well as first prizes to the international competitions Luigi Russolo (2003) and Citta' di Udine (2004).

He is the founder, artistic and general director of Productions Totem contemporain (PTC), and his works are published by Babel Scores Publishing."

"Émilie Girard-Charest. born Laval, Québec, 1987. Composer, Performer (cello).

Émilie Girard-Charest is a cellist, a composer and an improviser.

As a chamber musician, a soloist and with different ensembles (Allogène, Supermusique, La Machine, Quatuor d'occasion, Stéphane Pécas, Ensemble for New Music Tallinn, duo Collard-Neven-Girard-Charest), she dedicates herself to new music.

She has worked with many composers, including Malcolm Goldstein, Michel Gonneville, Maxime McKinley, Joane Hétu, Guillaume Primard, Jean-Luc Fafchamps, Isaiah Ceccarelli, Hans Zender, Graciela Paraskevaidis and Fredrik Gran.

Émilie has played at numerous festivals in Québec (Festival de musique actuelle de Victoriaville, OFF Festival de Jazz, Festival de jazz de Montréal, Festival de jazz de Québec, Montréal / Nouvelles Musiques), in the United States (Avant-Music Festival, New York), in Belgium (Ars Musica), in Austria (Klangspuren Schwaz and Impuls), in Chile (Encuentro Internacional de Compositores), in Argentina (Sonido Presente), in Estonia (Autumn Festival), in Finland (MuTe Fest), in Spain (Mixtur) and in Macedonia (Macedonian Music Days). She also played concerts in France, Germany, Russia and Uruguay.

In addition to that, she took part in various theatre and dance productions, such as Rhinocéros by Eugène Ionesco (Troupe Éponyme directed by Jocelyn Sioui), Couloir et Chambres by Philippe Minyana and La fête à Jean by Pierre-Luc Lasalle (Théâtre L'Instant, directed by André-Marie Coudou), ADN by Dennis Kelly (Conservatoire d'art dramatique de Montréal, directed by Sylvain Bélanger), the Physical Theater Choir Project (Vicki Tansey), The Sticks (Andrew Tay) and Reine et Oiseaux (théâtre Tête au Corps, Vincent Langlois and Émilie Sigouin). She is now working on a duet with the dancer and visual artist Sarah Bronsard.

Émilie holds a degree in cello (Denis Brott) and in composition (Michel Gonneville) from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal. She is now enrolled as a student in the CoPeCo program (Contemporary Performance and Composition), a joint Master involving the Eesti Muusika - ja Teatriakadeemia (Estonia), the Kungliga Musikhögskolan i Stockholm (Sweden), the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon (France) and the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg (Germany). She is the recipient of the Bourse de développement de carrière from the foundation of the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal (2014) and of the Prix d'Europe of Composition Fernand Lindsay (2015).

"Francis Leduc-Bélanger is a Montréal-based musician, photographer and videographer. He has been playing the trumpet since he was nine and has a passion for all types of music, whether it be from oral or written traditions or composed with the help of computer software. Leduc-Bélanger studied at McGill University with Edward Carroll (Soloist, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra) and Russell Devuyst (Montréal Symphony Orchestra). He perfected his skills at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal with Benjamin Raymond (Les Violons du Roy). He has attended workshops and private lessons with masters including Håkan Hardenberger, Marco Blaauw, Reinhold Friedrich, Manon Lafrance, James Thompson, Amy Horvey, Markus Stockhausen and many more. A seasoned improviser, he has performed in and around Montréal with several groups such as Archipel and night:clock (Jazz en rafale, Festi Jazz Mont-Tremblant), as well as recording with various artists including Cirque du Soleil, Philippe Brach and Gabrielle Shonk. He is a founding member of l'Orchestre de l'Agora (dir. Nicolas Ellis) and Ensemble Volte (dir. Thomas Leduc-Moreau). He also performed with the Opéra de Montréal, the Orchestre symphonique du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, and accompanied Les Violons du Roy on a North American tour.For many years Leduc-Bélanger has also had a passion for historical brass instruments. He has had the opportunity to perform on baroque and natural trumpets with various ensembles including Les Sonneurs at events such as the Montréal Baroque Festival."

"Cléo Palacio-Quintin. Born Leuven, Belgium, 1971, Residence: Montréal, Québec. Composer, Performer (hyper-flute).

Constantly seeking new means of expression and eager to create, the flutist-improviser-composer Cléo Palacio-Quintin takes part in many premieres as well as improvisational multidisciplinary performances, and composes instrumental and electroacoustic music for various ensembles and media works. Since 1999, she develops her hyper-flutes. Interfaced to a computer by means of electronic sensors, these augmented flutes enable her to compose interactive soundscapes, combining instrumental sound and electroacoustic music, sometimes even with video. Recipients of many prizes, awards and grants, she is the first woman to receive a Doctorate in electroacoustic composition from the Université de Montréal (2012) and is a collaborator at the Center for interdisciplinary research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT). Over the years her compositions have been performed in The Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, Canada and the USA, either by herself or various ensembles."

"Composer, improviser, instrumentalist (clarinet & saxophone) and sound artist, Philippe Lauzier participates in several projects that tour regularly in Canada and Europe, but also in USA, Latine America and Australia. In his solo and collective work, his ideas incorporate influences of contemporary musical languages as well as sounds from non-Western sources. Creative extended techniques, complex drones from which polyphonies emerge, and a certain compositional rigour are typical of his style. His interest for collaborative intermedia practices also leads him to create sound installation pieces, live performances for contemporary dance, theater music and many sound designs for visual art projects. Philippe lives in Montreal, Quebec."

"A native of central Quebec, Julie Houle has been a tuba player for 15 years. She has a classical university education. She is also an interpreter-composer-arranger. Since 2007, she has devoted herself to different styles (gypsies, fanfare, pop, jazz, improvisation, etc.). In 2007 she will follow a master class with Michel Godard in Villeurbane in France. The meeting of this mentor was also repeated in France, in January 2013 for a series of courses in private.

Julie swells, by her desire to make her tuba heard, worked with artists such as; David Brunet, Marco Calliari, The Gypsies of Sarajevo, Catherine Major, Fred Pellerin, Benoit Rocheleau, Brigitte Ste-Aubin, Bernard Adamus, the Fanfarniente de la Strada, the Jarry fanfare, the Severni fanfare, Sophie Vaillancourt, etc. In addition, she now has in hand her own DJU project that offers instrumental music where the tuba is put forward."

"Guido Del Fabbro. Born Montréal, Québec, 1980. Residence: Montréal, Québec. Composer, Performer (violin, electronics).

Born in Montréal, 1980, Guido Del Fabbro started violin lessons at age four. His taste for improvisation and composition first manifested itself around 1990; since then, he has taken several classes and workshops related to these fields. Del Fabbro is co-founder, creator and composer of Mouvement de Musique Présente, a large ensemble of up-and-coming musicians devoted to scored and improvised music. He is also a member of the groups Fanfare Pourpour, Rouge ciel and Concorde Crash. For 18 months, he toured North America with Gilles Ste-Croix's horse circus Cheval-Théâtre. As a performer, he has recorded a few soundtracks for film, television, theatre and dance. As a composer, he has written music for choreographers Élodie Lombardo (Blou take two, Gelsomina) and Séverine Lombardo (Les Accords d'elles). Del Fabbro released his first solo album, Carré de sable, in 2003, on Ambiances Magnétiques. He can be heard on the latest albums by Tomás Jensen and Loco Locass. He is an accompanying multi-instrumentalist in Pierre Lapointe's show La forêt des mal-aimés."

"Jean René. Born Victoriaville, Québec, 1956. Residence: Montréal, Québec. Performer (viola), Conductor.

Jean René has a Bachelor's degree in composition from the Université de Montréal. He has studied viola and conducting; Raffi Armenian, Michel Longtin, and Bruno Guiranna were his professors. From 1991 to 2002, he was associate principal violist with l'Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal. He still freelances with a number of ensembles. Since 1990 he has collaborated with many artists, including André Duchesne, Pierre Cartier, Jean Derome and René Lussier. He also headed the group from the Ensemble SuperMusique for the Symphony of the Millennium."

"Vergil Sharkya'. Residence: Montréal, Québec. Composer, Performer (synthesizer)

In 2010 Vergil Sharkya' finished a major research project in composition for his doctoral degree at Liverpool's John Moores University, developing a complete theory of hypercomposition, featuring as well examples of its practical application.

His most recent hypercomposition - aTTAK, for piano, suspended toy piano, and digital instruments -, was commissioned for and performed at the opening of the Aufbau Haus, Berlin, in September 2011.

Vergil is also a well established composer/musician in the fields of improvised music, multimedia installations, post-modernist composition, scores and soundtracks for film, theatre and dance, composition and arrangements for orchestras, soundscapes, psychedelic noise rock, drum'n'bass, dub, and even academic research.

He has released several recordings on various labels like Cuneiform Records, UKsupersonict and VergilReality Recordings.

Since moving to Montréal in July 2010, he has been working mainly but not exclusively in the field of improvised music with musicians such as Jean Derome, Michel F Côté, Simon Pagé, Augustus Martin, Ellwood Epps, Philippe Battikha, as well as with writers Martin Lamothe, and Serge Rivest Martimots. He currently spends his spare time cooking, doing housework for his lovely family and learning how to play jazz."

"Quebec City, Québec, 1956: Composer, Performer (drum set, percussion, voice)

A percussionist, composer and inveterate inventor, Pierre Tanguay is one of the most sought-after Montréal musicians on the Quebec scene. Since the beginning of the 80s, he has participated in an impressive number of ensembles, including Jean Derome and the dangereux zhoms, Évidence, Castor et compagnie, the Jean-François Groulx Trio, the ODD (a danse orchestra), Villemure Ô Carré, the Pierre Cartier Ensemble and Projet Riel. Among his collaborators are Jean Derome, Normand Guilbeault, Pierre Langevin, René Lussier, Karen Young, Fred Frith, Michel Donato, Daniel Mille, André Duchesne and Antoine Berthiaume. He is very active in the fileds of medieval and traditional music, jazz and musique actuelle. He is the co-founder of Strada, Midi Tapant, Derome/Tanguay.

He has composed works for dance (Lucie Grégoire, Andrew Harwood, Irène Stamou and Francine Gagné), as well as works for the theatre and film (Allan Booth, Imago and Roberto Ariganello). He regularly tours throughout Canada and Europe."

"Preston Beebe is a composer and percussionist who uses technology at the forefront of his work. His artistic approach involves audio feature extraction, organic processes, microscopic and invisible elements and how they interact in space and time. Spanning chamber, live-electronic, acousmatic, art installation, improvisation, and site-specific performances, his work has been performed in France, Spain, England, Greece, Canada, and the USA.

Preston is the recipient of the 2012-2014 CIRMMT Award to develop a digital percussion instrument using audio feature extraction and to compose a series of works for it. From 2014-2015, he attended CURSUS 1 at IRCAM, and composed a work for baritone saxophone & electronics, performed in the Centre G. Pompidou in Paris.

Preston holds a masters in music composition from McGill University; bachelors in music composition, electronic music, and percussion performance from the University of South Florida. He has studied composition with Philippe Leroux, Hector Parra, Chihchun Chi-sun Lee; percussion with Robert McCormick; lessons and workshops with Brian Ferneyhough, Chaya Czernowin, Yan Maresz, Trevor Wishart, Augusta Read Thomas, and Dai Fujikura.

Released on Kohlenstoff Records, Preston can be heard performing with his percussion duo, 4eyes, on the album mountain and with his prepared piano & percussion duo Whim Ensemble. He was a member of the McCormick Percussion Group and performed on the albums Music For Keyboard Percussions and Concerti For Strings With Percussion Orchestra, distributed through Naxos. In 2011 he released an album of his acousmatic music, Glisten."

"The first Canadian woman to graduate with the Montréal conservatory in percussion (1979) and the first percussionist to specialize in the interpretation with Leight Howard Stevens of marimba in New York, Marie Josée Simard has paved a path of innovation in once uncharted territory: "At the time, I must admit that I was disturbing people. Those people to whom I was speaking about my career objectives - to play solo rather than as part of an orchestra - laughed at me" (La scena musicale, November 2003). Since then, Simard has been recognized as a virtuoso and an exceptional interpreter of percussion instruments. In this regard, this great artist has built a reputation for musical excellence on the national and international stage for over 35 years, and her music - as a soloist - has been heard in a great number of concerts held in countries such as Canada, Mexico, France, Poland and Belgium, Japan, as well as during tours in Korea and China.

Another striking feature of Simard's career has been the remarkable adeptness she has shown for interpreting contemporary pieces in addition to the more traditional repertoire. She became a multidisciplinary interpreter before this tendency really existed. She has mastered the most complex contemporary pieces, both on keyboard and various percussion instruments, and has interpreted the classical and world music repertoires with great sensitivity. From 1991 to 1996, she was the percussionist for the contemporary ensemble Bradyworks, with the composer and guitarist Tim Brady who together played over forty concerts across Canada.

Simard recently added another string to her bow when she took an exciting foray into the world of Jazz by initiating the trio En trois couleurs that united her with the great pianists and jazz composers François Bourassa and Yves Léveillé. As a soloist, in May 2010, she played 3 Jazettes concertantes by François Bourassa for vibraphone and marimba with the Symphony Orchestra of Trois-Rivières with conduction by Jacques Lacombe, and again on May 10th, 2012 with the Orchestre Métropolitain of Montréal with conduction by Mélanie Léonard. After they opened the Jazz en Rafale festival in 2014, the music critic Bélanger wrote the following: "The result of the performance: I was completely blown away. Marie Josée Simard, a classical soloist little known in the Montréal Jazz scene, excels at playing with improvisations in a completely bewildering manner. From tubular bells to different types of vibraphones, marimba and other heteroclite instruments, the listener on this night has received much for its astonishment [....] Simard weaves like a cat between her instruments, and the two accompanying pianists steer her compositions back to her while sublimating their own compositions" (Camuz, Le calendrier musical de Montréal, March 22, 2014). This new trio was awarded an Opus Prize in 2013, for concert of the year-in Jazz! 2015, Grant (studio / residence) of the Council of Arts and Letters of Québec to reside in Tokyo Wonder Site (Japan) from September to December 2015. 2016, she made a major tour of 17 concerts in China with the Trio In Three Colors."

"Louise Bessette has been renowned over her 35 year career for the excellence of her performances and for her commitment to promoting contemporary music. Numerous organizations and international competitions have seen fit to reward her talent, and her reviews are constantly laudatory. She has recorded a wide variety of repertoire both as a soloist and with chamber ensembles, appearing the world over with distinguished orchestras and by invitation to many first-rate festivals. Many composers write especially for her. Beyond her exceptional performance career, Mrs. Bessette is a significant figure in the musical world, promoting contemporary music every chance she gets, and creating the opportunity for composers to showcase their talents alongside performers, in activities and collaborations that essentially enrich our cultural panorama.

Louise Bessette's musical career is a great arc, consistently demonstrating her deep engagement with the music of her time. She dedicated the year 2008 to the centenary of the birth of Olivier Messiaen. Her efforts and enthusiasm led to the organization of "Automne Messiaen", which featured more than 50 performers, ensembles and organizations celebrating Messiaen in Montreal. The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and his Music Director Maestro Kent Nagano gave a stunning performance of the opera Saint-François d'Assisewhich received the Grand Prix 2008 from the Conseil des Arts de Montréal. Mrs. Bessette shone as a soloist of Messiaen's oeuvre over the course of wide-ranging concerts that brought together seasoned performers, including the SMCQ Ensemble, conducted by Walter Boudreau (Des canyons aux étoiles), l'Orchestre du Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, lead by Raffi Armenian and Louis Lavigueur (Sept Haïkaï, Trois petites liturgies de la présence divine), l'Ensemble Musique Avenir, led by Véronique Lacroix (Oiseaux exotiques), and an evening of poetry and music with the poet and narrator Pierre Morency. In order to perform the Quatuor pour la fin du temps, a seminal piece in Olivier Messiaen's oeuvre, Louise Bessette formed the Ensemble ARTefact with Simon Aldrich (clarinet), Yegor Dyachkov (cello) and Jonathan Crow (violin). This collaboration led her to launch the idea of an homage to the great French composer by commissioning the talented Canadian composer, Nicolas Gilbert, to write a piece for the same group of instruments. This resulted in the quartet "Le temps des impossibles", which was made possible thanks to a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. Then, on the 10 of December, 2008, the date of Messiaen's centenary, Louise Bessette performed the complete Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus at the Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur in Montreal. This concert was greeted enthusiastically by the critic Christophe Huss, who rated it among the 10 best concerts of the year: "What started out a celebration became a ceremonial [...] the architectural grasp [...] mastery of time [...] primacy of form and content [...] Louise Bessette's Messiaen is as powerful as Kent Nagano's [... ]" (Le Devoir, December 11, 2008).

Louise Bessette officially celebrated her 30 year musical career on March 31, 2012, at the Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur in Montreal. This huge event was part of the 2011-2012 season of the SMCQ, and it consisted in a triple recital by the pianist. A solo and chamber music concert including four world premieres by Canadian composers Serge Arcuri, Michel Boivin, Michael Oesterle and Ana Sokolovic; a solo recital where we heard the pianist performing two major works from the twentieth century, the Suite no. 9 "Ttai" by Giacinto Scelsi and Les Planètes, a phenomenal work by Canadian composer Walter Boudreau; at the ending of this fantastic musical day, British pianist Peter Hill joined Louise Bessette in a stunning program: The rite of spring by Stravinsky (celebrating the centenary of this historical work) and the Visions de l'Amen by Olivier Messiaen.

As a pianist with an eclectic repertoire, and always eager to promote exchange with other art forms, Louise Bessette recorded the works of Charles-Valentin Alkan and Grieg for a film soundtrack in March 2009. "Hidden diary", by the French film director Julie Lopes-Curval and starring Catherine Deneuve and Marie-Josée Croze, was presented as world premiere at the Festival des Films du Monde in Montreal (2009), and then in movie theatres all over the world.

Mrs. Bessette regularly tours throughout America, Europe and Asia. She has been the soloist under the direction of renowned conductors such as Raffi Armenian, Linda Bouchard, Walter Boudreau, Nathan Brock, Charles Bruck, Edward Cumming, Marc David, Agnieszka Duczmal, Charles Dutoit, Mauricio Kagel, Bill Linwood, Diego Masson, Tania Miller, Daniel Myssyk, Kent Nagano, Pascal Rophé, Gerard Schwarz, Michel Swierczewski, Alain Trudel, Lorraine Vaillancourt and Pascal Verrot, performing in New York to Varsovie, and including Montréal, Ottawa, Victoria, Lyon, Strasbourg, Montpellier, Huddersfield, Aarhus and Mexico along the way.

Louise Bessette has recorded as a solo pianist, with orchestras and with chamber ensembles. Her recording Messiaen, Les oiseaux on Analekta label received a wonderful review in the Gramaphone magazine in December 2009. She has worked with the Canadian labels SNE, Les Disques SRC, Centrediscs, Doberman-Yppan, Analekta, Atma Classique, Riche Lieu, and Fonovox; in France with Disques Montaigne and Salabert/Actuels; and in the United States with Mode Records. Chamber music concerts and recordings gave her the opportunity to perform with great performers such as Simon Aldrich, Robert Cram, Jonathan Crow, Lise Daoust, Angèle Dubeau, Yegor Dyachkov, Mark Fewer, Marc-André Hamelin, Brian Manker, Douglas McNabney, Andrew Wan, the Quatuor Alcan, the Quatuor Molinari and London's Arditti Quartet.

Many composers have created works especially for her, including the Canadians Serge Arcuri, Lorraine Desmarais, François Dompierre, José Évangelista, Nicolas Gilbert, Michel Gonneville, Marc Hyland, Alain Lalonde, Maxime McKinley, Silvio Palmieri, Isabelle Panneton, Sean Pepperall, Serge Provost, Anthony Rozankovic, Raoul Sosa and André Villeneuve, and the French composers Claude Ballif, Bruno Ducol, Jacques Lejeune and Costin Miereanu. Gilbert Amy dedicated his Obliques III to her.

Louise Bessette has received unreserved acclaim from critics: "Messiaen has found in Louise Bessette his most inspired modern-day interpreter, undoubtedly for many years to come (Yves Allaz, Journal de Genève). "Her program was striking [...] the sight of the captivatingly elegant Louise Bessette rampaging happily through Cowell's Exultation and Tiger was nothing if not appealing, and she responded to the glittering splendours of Olivier Messiaen's Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus with playing of genuine grandeur. All this was delivered faultlessly from memory and with astonishing reserves of controlled, relaxed virtuosity." Malcolm Hayes, The Musical Times, London).

Always working to encourage the growth of music, Louise Bessette has participated in numerous juries for international competitions, and has given master classes in Europe as well as in Canada an Asia. She has been Professor of Piano at the Montreal Conservatory since 1996, where she was head of the keyboard department from 2005 to 2007.

During the 2013-2014 season, Louise Bessette undertook a daunting project. To celebrate the 25th musical season of the beloved cradle of so much of Montreal's innovative music, La Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur (Montreal), she offered a series of four piano recitals : 25 ans de musique québécoise avec Louise Bessette, to create an impressive overview of music from the period of La Chapelle's existence, 1988 to 2014. On the website Montrealistement, Normand Babin's review emphasized the enormity of this event which included 25 works by 25 different Quebec composers, one for each year, including a world premiere for 2014 : La femme forte ; Louise Bessette, la voix des compositeurs québécois ; 25 oeuvres, 25 compositeurs, 25 ans...UNE seule pianiste. This spectacular event has implanted itself as a milestone in Quebec's musical history.

Prizes and honours have accompanied Louise Bessette throughout her career. She took top honours in the Eckhardt-Gramatté Canadian Music Competition (1981), First Prize at the Concours International de Musique Contemporaine in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France (1986), both the First Prize and the Special Prize for Piano at the Rotterdam 1989 International Gaudeamus Competition for Contemporary Music, and the 1991 Flandre-Québec Award in recognition of her contribution to contemporary music. The Conseil Québécois de la Musique awarded her the Opus Prize 1996-1997 in the "conductor or soloist of the year" category, for her recital of Messiaen's Vingt Regards sur l'Enfant-Jésus. In January 2010, she received two Opus Prizes : "Performer of the year", and "Musical event of the year" for Automne Messiaen 2008, and in January 2012, the Opus Prize "Record of the Year - Modern and Contemporary Music" for the CD Serge Arcuri - Migrations (ATMA Classique). In 2013, she won the Opus Prizes "Concert of the Year - Montreal" and "Concert of the Year - Modern and Contemporary Music" for the event Louise Bessette, 30 ans de carrière. In January 2015, Louise Bessette was listed as one of Canada's top 25 pianists by CBC Music. She also received, in 2015, the Opus Prize "Performer of the Year" for the concert series 25 ans de musique québécoise avec Louise Bessette. In February 2016, Louise Bessette received her eighth Opus Prize with the Molinari Quartet in the category "Record of the Year, Modern and Contemporary Music" for Sofia Gubaidulina - Chamber Music (ATMA Classique). The Montréal daily La Presse named Mrs. Bessette "Personality of the Week" in 1986, while in 1989 the Salon de la Femme de Montréal named her "Woman of the Year" in the Arts category. In October 2001, she was received as a Member of the Order of Canada and appointed, in June 2005, Officier of the Ordre national du Québec. In November 2009, she was named Ambassador of Canadian Music by the Canadian Music Centre."