Born in Québec City, in 1950, Denis Bédard studied at the Québec Conservatory of Music where he won first prizes with the mention "highest distinction" in organ studies (in Claude Lavoie's class), in harpsichord and chamber music. He also won first prizes in counter-point and fugue. Bursary, for three consecutive years, of the Canadian Council for the Arts, he studied in Paris with Laurence Boulay, in Montréal with Mireille and Bernard
Lagacé, and in Amsterdam with Gustav Leonhardt.

Winner of the Prix d'Europe in 1975 and of the Radio-Canada National Contest in 1978, Denis Bédard has a very active career as soloist. He has been heard across Canada and in the USA. He also recorded a lot for Radio-Canada. In July 1991, he played at the 8th International Conference of the Fédération francophone des Amis de l'Orgue (Francophone Federation of Friends of the Organ).

Organist in Nativity of Notre-Dame church in Beauport from 1969 to 1978 and professor at the Québec Conservatory of Music from 1981 to 1989, Denis Bédard has been, for 19 years, organist at Saint-Coeur-de-Marie Church in Québec City before being appointed, in September 1997,organist at St. Roch church in Québec City. Since August 2001, he is organist and director of music at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary in Vancouver.

In 1993, he founded, with Rachel Alflatt, Éditions Cheldar, a firm dedicated to the publication of his organ and choral works. In 1996, he recorded a CD dedicated to his organ works.

As a composer, we owe him to date nearly fifty works ranging from chamber music, orchestral and vocal music to music for organ. He was commissioned for works by Radio-Canada, the CBC, the Québec Symphony Orchestra and from many musical personalities in Canada, in the USA and from England. Many of his works are being played throughout the world (USA, France, England, Switzerland, Holland, Germany, Danemark, South Africa, Hong Kong, Japan) particularly in international organ and saxophone conferences while being published and recorded. Denis Bédard is a member of the composers' group Les Mélodistes indépendants (Independant Melodists).

Source: Concert programme notes, 1998


After studying the oboe, Jean-François Daignault obtained a bachelor’s degree with honours in early music performance and litterature from McGill University. In 1997, he received a grand from the FCAR. He has been composing and arranging since the age of 15 and is mostly self-caught. He was born in Montral where he lives and works as a singer, composer/arranger, artistic director and voice teacher.



Born in Victoriaville (Québec), on December 23, 1926, he received, as early as 1937, his first musical lessons from his father, Lucien Daveluy, who was organist and director of music in Victoriaville.

Raymond Daveluy studied in Montreal with Gabriel Cusson (1939-1946, musical theory) and Conrad Letendre (1942-1948, organ). In 1948, he won the Prix d'Europe and continued his organ studies in New York with Hugh Giles. Since 1946, he gives organ recitals in Canada, in the USA, in Europe and in Asia. He has been a jury member at many international competitions: Munich (1971), Philadelphia (1977), St. Alban's (1979, 1985), and Chartres (1986). In June 1998, he was a jury member at the International Organ Competition in Calgary.

In 1959, he was the first north-american organist to participate and win the Haarlem (Holland) International Extemporization Contest.

In Montreal, Raymond Daveluy was successively organist at St. Jean-Baptiste church (1946-1951), Immaculate-Conception (1951-1954) and St. Sixte (1954-1959) before becoming, in 1960, first organist of the prestigious
Beckerath organ in the basilica of St. Joseph Oratory.

Raymond Daveluy recorded works from Bach, Marchand, Corette, Franck, Liszt and Daquin.

As a composer, Raymond Daveluy wrote many works for organ now published by Éditions Jacques Ostiguy and Éditions Europart-Music and being played in many countries. He is a certified composer from the Canadian Music Center. He has composed nearly fifteen works for organ. He also has composed asonata for trumpet and organ, a quintet for piano and strings, and choral works. Many of his works have been recorded, namely his concerto for organ and orchestra and, lately, his five sonatas for organ on SRC label.

Raymond Daveluy is the member-founder of "Mélodistes Indépendants" (Independant Melodists), a group of creators devoted to accessible modern music, who has received remarquable public support upon its creation in 1995 and who has recently published a book Pour l'amour de la musique (For the love of music).

On top of his career as composer and recitalist, Raymond Daveluy was, until 1988, organ and extemporization teacher at both Trois-Rivières and Montréal Conservatories, two schools he was once the director, the first one from 1970 to 1974 and the second one from 1974 to 1978. Among its pupils, there are Pierre-Yves Asselin, Paul Crawford, Mireille Lagacé, Lucienne L'Heureux-Arel and Rachel Laurin.

His important contribution to the Canadian musical life has been recognized many times: member of the Order of Canada (1980), Canada 125th-Anniversary Medal (1992), "Fellow" (Honoris Causa) from the Royal Canadian College of Organists (1993).
  Gilles Desrochers hails from Trois-Rivières where he distinguished himself in piano performance before pursuing his studies at Université du Québec, in Montreal, in organ performance, with high distinction, under Lucienne L'Heureux-Arel.

While continuing organ studies under Bernard Lagacé, Desrochers served as organiste titulaire at the Cathedral in Trois-Rivières while teaching music to the Petits Chanteurs in the same city. He continued his studies, earning a Premier Prix, under Xavier Darasse at the Conservatoire national régional in Toulouse with the assistance of grants from the Canada Council and the Quebec Government. Desrochers has also received advice from noted organists Anton Heiller, Harald Vogel, Luigi Tagliavini and Guy Bovet.

He is currently titulaire at the Monastery church of the Dominicans in Toulouse, France and concertizes extensively in his native and adopted countries. He has performed at Organ Festivals such as Ille-et-Vilaine, Charente-Maritime, Vosges and Toulouse and has played in organ series in Quebec (Montréal, Lanaudière and Pro-Organo). Gilles Desrochers has been a guest teacher in various organ academies, teaches harmony at the Institut for Sacred Music in Toulouse and is currently organ professor in the regional schools in Ramonville Saint-Agne and in Colomiers, France.



Born in Bedford (Quebec), in 1932, he started his piano studies with the Sisters of St. Joseph of St. Hyacinthe and went on to study piano and organ with Conrad Letendre at St. Hyacinthe Seminary. In Montreal, he continued his piano studies with Arthur Letondal, his organ studies with Raymond Daveluy, and studies in musical sciences with Gabriel Cusson. He also attended organ and choir conducting courses with Charles Courboin in New York City.

Organist in St. Sixte church in the City of St. Laurent in 1950, he became titular organist in St. Frédéric church in Drummondville, position he held from 1951 to 1975. Parallel to this function, he will, for thirteen years, be choir director. He was responsible for music teaching at the Drummondville School Board and Drummondville CEGEP (General and Professional College). He was also the founding president of FAMEQ (Federation of
associations of music teachers of Quebec).

Gilles Fortin wrote many musical works of which about fifteen have been published by Musilab Editions in Drummondville. He is also the author of the book "Le pouvoir de l’opposion" (The Power of the Opposition) stating the highs and lows of a life dedicated to music.

Rachel Laurin, who is currently pursuing a brilliant dual career as an organist and composer, was born in 1961 in Saint Benoît, in the Deux-Montagnes region of Quebec. She is a disciple of Raymond Daveluy, her main teacher, and her concert engagements have taken her to many major cities in Canada, United States and Europe.

In addition to performing the major works from all periods of the organ repertoire, Rachel Laurin has focused extensively on Canadian music, and also on rarely-played masterpieces and her own transcriptions of various works. Her recordings reflect this approach : Five Organ Sonatas by Raymond Daveluy (SRC/Riche Lieu); Bach Eternal (Musicus); a CD of her own transcriptions of the Sonata by Liszt and the Variations on a Theme of Händel by Brahms (Motette); and a CD of her own organ works, Three Organs in the Vosges region of France (DJA). In July 2000, she presented the six Organ Symphonies of Louis Vierne in three recitals in St.Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal during the 2000 Concerts Spirituels season. One of only a small number of organists to have performed the complete symphonies in a concert setting, Rachel Laurin was warmly applauded and saluted by press and public alike for this remarkable achievement, which attracted a great deal of attention. In the fall of 2001, she repeated her exploit at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Ottawa.

Rachel Laurin has been an Associate Composer of the Canadian Music Centre since 1989. She has composed over thirty works for various instrumental groups that have received regular concert, CD and radio performances, gaining exposure in many cities around the world, including New York, Washington, Paris, Brussels, Cambridge, Qurich, Lausanne, Geneva, Monte Carlo, Turin and Rome, and in Asian countries such as China and Japan. Her works are published by Europart-Music, Doberman and Lucarel editions. Rachel Laurin in s afounding member of Les Mélodistes Indépendants, a group of composers who aim to produce music that is both modern and accessible to audiences.

Rahcel Laurin taught organ improvisation at the Montreal Music Conservatory form 1988 to 1992, and has also taught at the Summer School in Épinal, France. Her talent as an organist, improviser and composer has been recognized by several awards, including the Conrad-Letendre Award. She was Associate Organist at St. Joseph’s Oratory, Montreal, from 1986 until 2002. Since September 1st 2002, she is Titular Organist at Notre-Dame Cathedral, in Ottawa.