Lucie Gascon

Gascon, Lucie

Lucie (Géraldine) Gascon (b Fortin). Harpist, composer, b Normandin, Lac-St-Jean, Que, 1 Jan 1944; deuxième prix chamber music (CMM) 1979. At 11 she began to study piano and recorder with Céline Bussières in Normandin. While being advised by the tenor Raoul Jobin, she studied harp at the CMQ with Dorothy Weldon-Masella 1962-9. She then pursued her studies at the CMM with the latter from 1969 to 1972, as well as with Otto Joachim and Arthur Garami (chamber music) and Andrée Désautels (history of music) from 1973 to 1979. She also studied with Lily Laskine in Nice (1975) and Lucille Lawrence in New York (1976-7). With the help of a scholarship from MACQ in 1980, she went to Paris where she once again worked with Laskine and with Denise Mégevand who introduced her to Celtic harp. Following her return from a 1987 tour in Morocco, she worked on the African harp (kora) with a Senegalese poet-musician and, subsequently, with Lamin Susuco in Toronto.

Gascon has performed in recital and with the Orchestra of the Conservatoire de musique du Québec, the OJQ, the Trois-Rivières Symphony Orchestra, and the Sherbrooke Symphony Orchestra. She has made tours in Canada and abroad (Mexico, Colombia, Martinique, Africa). In 1978 she began to present educational workshops in teaching establishments at different levels. These workshops (at first produced under the aegis of the JMC (YMC) until 1987, and then privately), and her participation in numerous radio and TV broadcasts have contributed to making the harp known and appreciated to a large public. She has composed works for harp, some of which are featured on the LP Berceuse and Toujours le même rêve (see Discography). She created the musical card game Anim-aux-sons which is distributed internationally.