Gilles Tremblay (composer)

Born in Arvida, Quebec, Tremblay studied at the conservatories of Québec in Montréal and Paris (1954–61), where his teachers included Olivier Messiaen (analysis), Andrée Vaurabourg-Honegger (counterpoint), Yvonne Loriod (piano), and Maurice Martenot (inventor of the ondes Martenot).^[1][2] He also attended Karlheinz Stockhausen's summer courses at Darmstadt, where he became interested in electro-acoustic techniques.^[3]

Tremblay returned to Quebec in 1961. He taught musical analysis at the Centre d'arts Orford [fr] and at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec in Quebec City.^[3] Beginning in 1962, and for many years, he taught composition at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal. Among his pupils are Serge Arcuri [fr], Raynald Arseneault, Yves Daoust, François Dompierre, Marc Hyland, Ramon Lazkano, Robin Minard, Éric Morin, Silvio Palmieri, Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux, Isabelle Panneton [fr], André Villeneuve, Claude Vivier, and Wolf Edwards.^[4]

Early in his career he performed as a specialist on the ondes Martenot.^[5]

A central figure in Quebec's contemporary classical music scene, Tremblay was active in many capacities including as president and artistic director of the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec.^[6]

In 1983, a six-record set of Tremblay's music was included in the Anthology of Canadian Music series. The Tremblay portrait in the Canadian Composers Portraits series was released in 2003.^[7]

He was the recipient of many honours including the Denise-Pelletier award and Officer of the National Order of Quebec (1991). In 2012, he was named to the Order of Canada.^[6]

Tremblay died July 27, 2017, in the Montreal borough of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.^[3]

• Mobile, for violin and piano (1962)
• Champs I, for piano and 2 percussionists (1965)
• Cantique de durées, for seven groups of instruments (1960)
• Sonorisation du Pavillon du Québec, 24-channel electronic music (1967)
• Souffles (Champs II), for 2 flutes, oboe, clarinet, horn, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, piano, 2 percussionists, and contrabass (1968)
• Vers (Champs III), for 2 flutes, clarinet, trumpet, horn, 3 percussionists, 3 violins, and contrabass (1969)
• Jeux de solstices, for orchestra (1974)
• Oralléluiants, for soprano, bass clarinet, horn, 2 percussionists, and 3 contrabasses (1975)
• Fleuves, for piano, percussion, and orchestra (1976)
• Vers le soleil, for orchestra (1978)
• Le Signe du lion, for horn and tam-tam (1981)
• Triojubilus "À Raphaël", for flute, harp, and cowbells (1985)
• Les Vêpres de la Vierge, for soprano and orchestra (1986)
• Musique du feu, for piano and orchestra (1991)
• L'arbre de Borobudur, for horn, 2 harps, double bass, ondes Martenot, 2 percussionists, and gamelan ensemble (1994)
• L'espace du coeur (Miron-Machaut), for mixed voices and percussion (1997)
• Les pierres crieront, for cello and large orchestra (1998)
• A quelle heure commence le temps?, for baritone, percussion, piano, and orchestra (1999)
• L'appel de Kondiaronk: symphonie portuaire, environmental work for battle sirens and 2 locomotives (2000)
• String Quartet 'Croissant' (2001)
• En partage (Concerto), for viola and orchestra (2002)
• L'eau qui danse, la pomme qui chante et l'oiseau qui dit la vérité, Opéra féerie based on "The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird" (2009)

• 1968. "Note pour Cantique de durées." Revue d'esthetique 21, nos. 2–4 ("Musiques nouvelles"): 51–58.
• 1994. "Gilles Tremblay : réflexions". Circuit, musiques contemporaines. 5 (1).