Article

Mireille Lagacé

Published Online June 27, 2007

Last Edited December 14, 2013

Mireille (b Bégin) Lagacé. Organist, harpsichordist, teacher, b St-Jérôme, Que, 8 Jun 1935. She studied in Montreal with Germaine Malépart (piano), Conrad Letendre (organ), and Gabriel Cusson (theory).

Lagacé, Mireille

Mireille (b Bégin) Lagacé. Organist, harpsichordist, teacher, b St-Jérôme, Que, 8 Jun 1935. She studied in Montreal with Germaine Malépart (piano), Conrad Letendre (organ), and Gabriel Cusson (theory). She went to Austria in 1956 on a Quebec government scholarship and studied organ with Anton Heiller. Returning to Montreal, she continued her organ and harpsichord studies 1957-62 with her husband, Bernard, and took part in the activities of the group Ars Organi. In 1959 she was awarded a first prize at the Organ Competition of the Montreal Centre of the RCCO (John-Robb Organ Competition). Between 1962 and 1965 she won several international prizes (Munich 1962, and Geneva, 1962, 1965), and in 1964 she founded the Ensemble Couperin-le-Grand. She taught harpsichord at the University of Montreal 1967-72 and organ at the New England Conservatory in Boston 1970-80. In 1973 she began teaching harpsichord and baroque music at the CMM. During the summers she has taught baroque music 1964-74 at the CAMMAC music centre, and harpsichord 1974-80 at the JMC Orford Art Centre, 1970-80 at the Choate Music Seminars in Wallingford, Connecticut, and 1980- at the Académie d'orgue de St-Dié, in France. She has pursued a busy career as a soloist and chamber player in Canada, the USA, and western Europe. She began to perform on the fortepiano in 1988. Some works have been dedicated to her, including Jean Papineau-Couture'sDyarchie which she premiered in 1971 in Boston, and Jean Lesage's Thanatopsis (1981). In 1977 she was chosen for a Victor M. Lynch-Staunton Award by the Canada Council. In 1978 she recorded a considerable portion of Bach's complete works for harpsichord for Calliope. The day following her performance of the Goldberg Variations at the Erskine and American Church, Carol Bergeron commented in Montreal's Le Devoir (16 Oct 1989): 'A superb and moving musician, an exceptional harpsichordist, Mireille Lagacé performed this formidable and monumental score with the serene assurance of an artist who has long since matured her interpretation.'

See also Geneviève Lagacé (her daughter) and Éric Lagacé (her son).

Discography

Organ
Dietrich Buxtehude, Works for the Organ. 1975. Titanic Ti-11

A. Gabrieli - Merulo: Ricercari, Toccatas - (with Geneviève Lagacé) duets by Frescobaldi - Merula. 1978. 2-Titanic Ti-4344

Great French Organ Works: Franck - Widor - Morel Prière - et al. 1982. CBC SM-5024

Magnificat: Cavazzoni - Frescobaldi - Scheidt - Buxtehude - et al. 1966. Madrigal MAS-410

Organ Music: Scheidt - Cabezon - Merulo - et al. 1978. Titanic Ti-37

Harpsichord

Bach Inventions; Sinfonias. 1978. Calliope CAL 1651

- Goldberg Variations, Partitas, Italian Concerto, et al. 1978-80. 6-Calliope CAL 165257. Available singly on Calliope CAL-1652, 1653 (Goldberg Variations), 1654, 1655, 1656 (6 Partitas), 1657 Italian Concerto et al)

- 6 French Suites. (1982). 2-Calliope CAL-1658-1659

Boismortier 4 Suites. 1978. Calliope CAL-1865, (1st suite) Calliope CAL-9838 (CD)

L'Ensemble baroque de Montréal: Attaingnant - Couperin - Marais - Purcell - et al. Lyman voice da gamba, Samuelson recorder. 1964. Janus JA 19001

See also Discographies for C. Corbeil; B. Lagacé; M. Tessier, and Verebes.