Bio of composers > GARANT, Serge

Dominant figure of Canadian contemporary music, Serge Garant was an esteemed composer, admired conductor, impassioned teacher and a convincing radio host. He was born in Quebec City on September 22, 1929, into a family in which both parents were musicians. In 1940 the family settled in the city of Sherbrooke where Garant began to learn the clarinet and saxophone while, at the same time, taking piano lessons with Sylvio Lacharité and harmony with Paul-Marcel Robidoux. Soon he was playing in dance orchestras, local bands, and with the Sherbrooke Symphony Orchestra as clarinetist. He composed his first works in 1946, and in 1948 began to study composition with Claude Champagne while continuing his piano studies with Yvonne Hubert. It was during this period that he had his first exposure to the works of Schönberg and of Webern, two composers who had a lasting influence on his development.

He spent a year in Paris in 1951 where he studied analysis with Olivier Messiaen and counterpoint with Andrée Vaurabourg-Honegger. However, the most important influence on him during his stay in Paris was probably his encounter with Stockhausen and Boulez. In 1952, back in Canada, he continued the study of counterpoint with Jocelyne Binet. His compositions of that period include Pièce pour piano no 1 (1953), Varia-tions pour piano (1954), as well as several vocal works. In 1954 and 1955, in association with fellow composers Gilles Tremblay, François Morel and Otto Joachim, he organized two concerts of new music which were presented at the Montreal Conservatory. The first of these included works by Messiaen and Boulez; the second marked the 10th anniversary of the death of Anton Webern, and included Garant's Nucléogame, known as the first Canadian piece to combine tape with traditional instruments. These first concerts led to the creation in 1957 of the group known as "Musique de notre temps" which existed for two years but presented three concerts with works by the most important composers of the fifties. Quebec pianist Jeanne Landry was a member of this group.

To support himself during this period, Garant worked as an arranger and conductor of popular music, but he continued to communicate his enthusiasm for new music by means of articles in various newspapers and by radio appearances. Garant's name was beginning to be known and his works were becoming increasingly audacious and innovative. In Pièce pour quatuor à cordes (1958) he employed the aleatoric technique. Asymétries no 2 (1959) was written on a commission from Dartmouth College. In 1961, his Anerca was conducted by Mauricio Kagel during the International Week of Contemporary Music in Montreal before an audience which included the composers John Cage and Morton Feldman. This was followed by commissions from the orchestras of Quebec City and of Sherbrooke. In 1965 his Asymétries no 1 was performed in Paris at the Domaine musical by the pianist Claude Helffer.

The year 1966 is a milestone in the career of Serge Garant. He became the musical director and then the artistic director of the newly formed "Société de musique contemporaine du Québec" (SMCQ), a position which he held until his death in 1986. This position provided him with a platform from which he was able to influence both the general public and other composers toward the development of contemporary music in Quebec. From this point on, he pursued a multiple career as teacher, conductor and composer. In 1966 he conducted a performance of R. Murray Schafer's Toi/Loving on Radio-Canada television. In 1967 he was named professor of composition and analysis at the University of Montreal. Further activities abroad took him to Basle in 1969 to study conducting in a summer course with Boulez; to Bali in 1972; and to Italy in 1973-4 on a grant from the Canadian Cultural Institute in Rome. Garant conducted the Ensemble of the SMCQ for its concerts in Montreal and for a tour of Canada, as well as leading the group in concerts for the International Society for Contemporary Music in Royan (1972); Brussels and Paris (1973); Washington (1975); Boston (1976); Paris and London as well as in Bonn, Cologne and Metz (1977). In 1977 he was invited to conduct the first performance of Fleuves by Gilles Tremblay with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. From 1971 to 1986 he was host of the radio show "Musique de notre siècle" on the FM network of Radio Canada.

From 1967 on, the development of Garant's musical ideas can be seen in the formal originality of each work, an example being the use of the aleatoric technique in such politically programmatic works as Phrases I (1967) on a text of Pierre Bourgault, and Phrases II (1968) on a text of Che Guevara. These were followed by a magnificent cycle of compositions inspired by the theme of the Musical Offering of Bach, whom Garant venerated: Offrande I (1969); Offrande II (1970); Offrande III (1971); Circuit I (1972); Circuit II (1972);Circuit III (1973). He returned from Italy with a wonderfully lyrical work on the art of loving, ...chant d'amours. Rivages (1976), inspired by a text of Alain Grandbois, was written in 1976. He wrote Quintette in 1978, and his last work Plages, for orchestra, was composed in 1981.

Serge Garant received numerous awards and honors for his contribution to Canadian music. These include the medal of the Canadian Music Council (1971); the Harold Moon trophy, given by the PRO (1978); the Calixa-Lavallée award (1979); and the Jules-Léger prize (1980) for his Quintette. He was named officer of the Order of Canada (1979); performer of the year by the Canadian Music Council (1984); and was elected to the Royal Society of Canada (1986).

On November 1st, 1986, Serge Garant died, leaving behind him an original and intense body of work. He left us with the memory of a man who, for 25 years, was a key influence in bringing Canadian contemporary music to an international level.