Bio of composers > PRÉVOST, André

André Prévost, one of Canada's most important composers, has established an international reputation. His diversified output includes works for orchestra, soloists with orchestra, choir as well as chamber music pieces for various combinations. His music has been performed all over the world and the many commissions he has received bear witness to the high esteem in which his music is regarded.

Born in 1934, André Prévost grew up in a family of musicians in Saint-Jérome, Quebec. In 1951, he entered the Montreal Conservatory where he studied composition with Clermont Pépin from 1955 to 1960. While at the Conservatory he won the Chamber Music Award of the "Fondation Les Amis de l'Art" as well as the Sarah Fischer Prize in composition. Combined grants from the Canada Arts Council and the Quebec Government enabled him to study for two years in Paris where he enrolled at the Conservatory and took classes in music analysis with Olivier Messiæn. He also studied composition with Henri Dutilleux at the École normale de musique. Upon his return to Canada, he won the Prix d'Europe (1963) which allowed him to return to Paris where he studied electroacoustics at the ORTF with Michel Philippot. During the summer of 1965, he attended Berkshire Music Center to take masterclasses from Zoltan Kodaly, Aaron Copland, Gunther Schuller and Elliott Carter.

Prévost owes his first success to Fantasmes (1963) which earned him the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Prize. After the American premiere of the work by the Toronto Symphony at Carnegie Hall, Harold Schonberg of the New York Times wrote that FANTASMES "does convey a real urgency and is an impressive work". Prévost received three separate commissions from Montreal International Competition to compose the required piece for soloist and orchestra: Pyknon (1966), "Il fait nuit lente", excerpt of Hiver dans l'âme (1981) and finally, Variations et thème (1988). In 1967, Prévost composed Terre des Hommes in collaboration with poetess Michèle Lalonde. It is a large-scale cantata for two narrators, three choirs and a large orchestra with double string sections. It was presented at the opening of the International Festival at Expo '67 in Montreal and it brought Prévost international recognition. Gilles Potvin, music critic of the Montreal newspaper LE DEVOIR, found that "few Canadian compositions are infused with such intensity and universal appeal". Prévost's Cantate pour cordes (1987) was written at the request of Yehudi Menuhin who premiered the work at the Guelph Spring Festival in Ontario. This was followed by a television documentary entitled "Menuhin-Prévost, an Adventure in Creation" and telecast by the CBC in Canada and in Europe. This documentary, produced by James Dormeyer, earned a Special Mention at the Prix Italia in Rome (1991), and also won the Rodgers Communications Inc. Media Award (1991).

Analysing Prévost's musical vocabulary is no easy task since it reflects an essentially personal style rather than one of any specific school. He uses contemporary techniques but the structure of his works develops from the internal logic of the ideas presented so as to create a sense of organic inevitability. His works are a testimony to his constant reflection upon the state of humankind.

As he himself expresses it, "I simply cannot avoid integrating my spiritual preoccupations into my music. I am no doubt strongly motivated by my perception of the universe and I conceive of the creative act as an embodiment of my personal vision".

For André Prévost teaching is also a means of expressing one's creativity. Recognized as a great pedagogue, he has been inspiring several generations of young composers since his appointment as professor at the University of Montreal's Faculty of Music in 1964.

His numerous distinctions include the medal of the Canadian Music Council in 1977 and the Trophy awarded by The Performing Rights Organisation of Canada in 1985. André Prévost was appointed Officer to the Order of Canada in 1986.