Armand Ferland

Ferland, Armand

(Joseph Pierre) Armand Ferland. Conductor, clarinettist, teacher, administrator, b St Boniface, Man, 31 Mar 1926; BA (Manitoba) 1947, premier prix clarinet (CMM) 1951, LRAM 1953, LGSM 1954, B MUS (Laval) 1965, L MUS (Laval) 1968. He began violin lessons at nine with John Waterhouse in Winnipeg and later took up clarinet. He studied 1947-51 at the CMM and 1951-4 in London at the RMSM (Kneller Hall). He was music director and commanding officer 1954-61 of the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, and held the same position 1961-5 with the famous Royal 22nd Regiment Band (Van Doos) in Quebec City, with whom he organized and co-directed a successful series of concerts in 1961 at the Citadel and another in 1963 at the PDA in Montreal and conducted the recordings The Van Doos - Band of the Royal 22nd Regiment/Je me souviens (1964, RCA PCS 1007/1006), which include his march Geneviève. He was inspector of military bands eastern region, 1965-8, and music director in 1967 of the Canadian Armed Forces Tattoo which toured Canada. He founded, and 1962-8 performed with, the Quintette à vent de Québec on CBC radio and at Expo 67 (where they recorded works by Damase, Ibert, Milhaud and Hétu on CBC EXPO-28), and he revived the group in 1990 with three out of five of its original members. He began teaching clarinet and saxophone at Laval University part-time in 1966 and full time in 1968, and remaining on staff in 1991, also teaching conducting, instrumentation, and chamber music, conducting the Laval band and orchestra, and administering some of the faculty programs. He has played in the CBC Montreal orchestra and performed as a clarinet soloist with the Quebec Symphony Orchestra. He was president of CAUSM (CUMS) 1979-81, and has been a member of several boards including the NYO, the Canadian Music Council, and the CCA. He was named honorary life member of the Fédération des harmonies du Québec in 1984, and in 1991 continued to judge its annual music festival. Ferland has participated in summer programs among them at the Orford Art Centre, CAMMAC, International Music Camp, and Camp musical Accord Parfait. He was the organizer of Clarinet Fest International '90 at Laval University, a three-day event for which he commissioned and recorded Morel's Figures-Segments-Ellipses. His brother is Marcien Ferland.