Monik Grenier

Grenier, Monik

(Marie Berthe) Monik Grenier. Pianist, coach-accompanist, teacher, b Montreal 24 Aug 1931; B MUS (Montreal) 1951, M MUS (Montreal) 1953. She had piano lessons 1939-40 in Stratford, Ont, and 1940-2 in Guelph. She studied in Montreal 1948-53 at the École Vincent-d'Indy with Jean-Marie Beaudet and Jean Dansereau (piano), Claude Champagne (theory, composition), and Louis Bailly (chamber music). In 1953 she won first prize in the radio competition 'Nos Futures Étoiles' (instrumental category), and in 1954 won the Prix d'Europe. She continued her training 1954-7 at the Paris Cons with Yves Nat, Marguerite Long, and Yvonne Loriod (piano), as well as Nadia Boulanger (keyboard harmony and accompaniment).

Grenier performed in public recitals and on CBC radio and TV and was accompanist and coach 1960-4 at the JMC Orford Art Centre. With a grant from the Canada Council she continued her training 1964-5 at several European opera houses while studying the French and Italian repertoires in Paris and Milan and the Mozart operas in Salzburg. She became a rehearsal pianist for the MSO and the CBC in 1949 and served in the same capacity at the CMM 1957-63 and 1971-2, at Expo 67, and for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens.

Grenier taught 1972-89 at McGill University and was in charge of opera class concerts 1975-7. During the summer of 1975 she was music director for the intermediate levels at the Banff SFA (Banff CA). She accompanied the instrumentalists and singers at the Cons de Trois-Rivières 1976-8 and began teaching at UQAM in 1978. In 1985, with the bass Roland Gosselin, whom she married the next year, she made a tour of the Montreal maisons de la culture to commemorate the centenary of Victor Hugo's death. Monik Grenier is a regular jury member for various institutions. She is a founding member of the Vincent d'Indy Foundation (1985) and of the Ensemble lyrique de Lanaudière (1987- ) of which she is music director and accompanist.