Quebec Woodwind Quintet/Quintette à vent du Québec

Quebec Woodwind Quintet/Quintette à vent du Québec

Quebec Woodwind Quintet/Quintette à vent du Québec. Ensemble formed in Montreal in the autumn of 1971, and composed of Jean C. Morin, flute; Bernard Jean, oboe; Jean Laurendeau, clarinet; Jean-Louis Gagnon, french horn; and René Bernard, bassoon. It gave its first concert in Trois-Rivières 20 Apr 1972, followed by another in Alma, later broadcast by CBC radio in its 'Grands concerts' series. Canada Council grants enabled it to act as the quintet-in-residence at the music camp in Métabetchouan, Que, in 1974 and at the JMC Orford Art Centre 1975-7. The quintet also went on JMC (YMC)tours 1974-6 in Quebec, Ontario, and Saskatchewan. In 1977 it appeared in Tunisia and made debuts in London (9 November at St John's Church, Smith Square) and in Paris (10 November at the Salle Gaveau) as part of Musicanada, performing works by Hétu, Jones, Mather, Papineau-Couture, and Saint-Marcoux (her Genesis, a work it had commissioned and had premiered at the Orford centre in August 1975). In the London Sunday Times (10 Nov 1977), Felix Aphrahamian wrote that the Hétu work had been 'superbly played by the Quebec Wind Quintet.' The quintet ceased its activities in 1987 after having premiered Jacques Hétu's Symphonie concertante, Opus 40 with the Orchestre métropolitain under Paul André Boivin. This ensemble should not be confused with the Quintette à vent de Québec established by Armand Ferland and active in the mid-1960s.