Music
From an early age, I was exposed to a large variety of musical genres, thanks to my parents. I remember playing on my father’s drum set, acompanying the recordings of Dire Straits, Queen, or Charlebois. Later, I started to play the piano and teach myself theory. One day, I watched a documentary about the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould, and was captivated instantly. By listening to his unique interpretation of Bach, I developed a true passion for music.
After studying the piano for a few years, I discovered the harpsichord and the organ through the teaching of Luc Beauséjour. He helped me developed the skills needed to play chamber music, which led me to become organist for the Sisters of the Holy Cross and found the Ensemble Canto Felice with trumpeter Geoffroy Cloutier-Turgeon and soprano Mylène Bourbeau. It was during that time that I obtained a Master’s degree in Musicology from the Université de Montréal.
After focusing on design for a few years, I now find a renewed interested in music through the creation of soundscapes.
Over the years, I made a few recordings on the harpsichord and the organ, playing either as a soloist or as part of my ensemble. My latest recordings are of my own compositions, which I created with my synthesizers, or using the Eurorack simulator VCV Rack.
When I started playing the harpsichord and the organ, my teacher gave me the opportunity to write program notes and give short talks for his concert series, Clavecin en Concert. Writing never came naturally to me, so I simply tried to be informative and point out elements of a composition that would be easily recognizable by most people in the hope of making their experience just a little more enjoyable. This seemed to resonate with listeners, even the press:
With the help of professor Michel Duchesneau, what started as an extracurricular activity soon became the subject of my thesis, for which I received two scholarships: one from the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQSC), the other from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
Here are a few program notes I wrote:
