Paul-Émile Talbot

Talbot, Paul-Émile

Paul-Émile Talbot. Organist, teacher, b Quebec City 1 Sep 1934, d there 27 Apr 1986; lauréat piano (Laval) 1951, BA (Laval) 1955, Diplôme d'études supérieures in Gregorian chant (Laval) 1958, premier prix organ (CMQ) 1960. He studied Gregorian chant 1954-8 at Laval University and with the Benedictines at St-Benoît-du-Lac, then enrolled at the CMQ, where his teachers were Henri Gagnon (organ), Andrée Gauthier-Germain (solfège), Magdeleine Martin (history, analysis), and Françoise Aubut (theory). On a Quebec government scholarship he continued his training 1960-3 with Donald Willing at the New England Cons, Boston, and in the summer of 1965 he took private lessons from Antoine Reboulot in Paris. Concurrently with these activities he taught solfège 1959-69 at the CMQ and held successively the positions of president of the Association des professeurs of the CMQ, vice-president of the Syndicat des professeurs de l'État du Québec, and president of the conservatories section of the last-named. He was assistant director of the CMQ 1969-71 and its director 1971-8. While organist 1961-73 at St-Charles-Garnier Church, he took part in concerts by various Quebec City ensembles and was soloist at the 1971 concert marking the fifth anniversary of Les Amis de l'orgue de Québec, of which he had been a founding member.