Browse "Arts & Culture"

Alain Simard, OC, COQ impresario, talent manager, producer, businessman (born 19 January 1950 in Montreal, QC). Alain Simard has been a leading figure in Quebec’s entertainment sector since the early 1970s. He is responsible for the conception and founding of some of Canada’s biggest annual festivals, including the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal (FIJM) and the FrancoFolies de Montréal, one of the largest French-language music festivals in the world. Simard is also chairman of the board of Équipe Spectra, which manages and operates festivals and performance venues, mounts stage productions, runs a record label and manages artists. In 2003, Simard was named the most influential person in the cultural world by the Montreal newspaper La Presse. He is a Chevalier of France’s Arts et des Lettres, of the Ordre de la Pléiade, and of the Ordre national du Québec; as well as an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Thibault, Alain. Composer, b Quebec City, 28 Dec 1956; B MUS composition (Montreal) 1983. He studied mainly at the University of Montreal and at Laval University and McGill University.

Alain Trudel. Trombonist, conductor, composer, b Montreal 13 Jun 1966; premiers prix chamber music, trombone (CMM) 1985. Alain Trudel studied (1981-5) at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec with Joseph Zuskin.

Alan Belkin. Composer, organist, teacher, b Montreal 5 Jul 1951; BA (Sir George Williams) 1972, M MA (McGill) 1978, DMA (Julliard) 1983. He first studied with Marvin Duchow (harmony, counterpoint, composition) and with Dom André Laberge (organ), then pursued his organ studies with Bernard Lagacé.

Alan Bradley, writer, media technologist and teacher (born at Toronto, Ont, 1938). Alan Bradley was raised in Cobourg Ontario.

Alan Butterworth Plaunt, organizer, broadcaster, journalist (b at Ottawa 25 Mar 1904; d there 12 Sept 1941). Born of a wealthy lumbering family, he devoted his life to national unity, public broadcasting, economic reform and pacifism.

Alan (Paul) Crofoot. Tenor, actor, b Toronto 2 Jun 1929, d Dayton, Ohio, 5 Mar 1979; MA psychology (Toronto) 1953.

Alan Cumyn, writer (b at Ottawa 1960). Alan Cumyn was born and grew up in Ottawa. He spent one year at Royal Roads Military College in Victoria, BC, and then transferred to Queen's University, where he completed a BA in English and History.

Alan Ehnes. Trumpeter, teacher, b Valparaiso, Ind, 26 Sep 1946; B MUS (Northwestern) 1969, M MUS (Northwestern) 1973.

Heard, Alan. Composer, teacher, b Halifax, NS, 7 Feb 1942; B MUS (McGill) 1962, MFA (Princeton) 1964. He studied composition with István Anhalt at McGill University, Roger Sessions and Earl Kim at Princeton U, and Boris Blacher at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin.

Alan Hepburn Jarvis, art connoisseur, sculptor, editor, author (b at Brantford, Ont 6 July 1915; d at Toronto 2 Dec 1972).

Alan (Philip) Lessem. Musicologist, teacher, administrator, b Salisbury, Rhodesia (Harare, Zimbabwe), 29 Nov 1940, naturalized Canadian 1981, d Toronto 5 Oct 1991; BA (Cape Town) 1963, B MUS (Cape Town) 1963, M LITT (Cambridge) 1967, PH D (Illinois) 1973.

Alan Lund, choreographer (b at Toronto 23 May 1925; d at Toronto 1 July 1992). A specialist in musical theatre, he trained in Toronto and first established a performance reputation as a dance team with his wife Blanche, appearing during WWII in the revue Meet the Navy.

Albert Miller (Alan Mills), CM, opera singer, folksinger, actor, writer (born 7 September 1912, possibly 1913, in Lachine, QC; died 14 June 1977 in Montréal, QC).

Alan Mills began a successful career as a folksinger on CBC radio in 1947; he sang until 1959 on 'Folk Songs for Young Folks' and 1952-5 on 'Songs de Chez Nous,' the latter with Hélène Baillargeon and the Art Morrow Singers. He was often accompanied by the guitarist Gilbert 'Buck' Lacombe (b St.