Description
A prolific composer, Walter Boudreau has a catalogue of more than forty works written for both chamber ensemble and orchestra, as well as film and ballet scores. Born in Montreal in 1947, he studied piano and saxophone and was, by age 18, leading his own jazz quartet, with which he also made several recordings. Attracted to writing, Walter Boudreau studied analysis with Bruce Mather at McGill University in Montreal, and then analysis and composition with Gilles Tremblay at the Montreal Conservatory of Music and with Serge Garant at the University of Montreal. With numerous grants from the Canada Arts Council, he studied both in Europe and in the US with Mauricio Kagel, Karlheinz Stockhausen, György Ligeti, Olivier Messaen, Iannis Xenakis and Pierre Boulez. In 1974, he was the winner of the first Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Young Composer's Contest, and in 1982 became the youngest recipient of the coveted Jules-Léger Prize for new music, with L'Odyssée du Soleil, for brass instruments. In 1991, his Golgot(h)a, written for brass, percussion, organ, digital choir and sampled solo voice, received in Paris Le Grand Prix Paul-Gilson from La Communauté des radios publiques de langue française. Artistic Director and Conductor of the Montreal based Société de Musique Contemporaine du Québec since 1988, Walter Boudreau has conducted various ensembles and orchestras throughout Canada in the performance and recording of new music.
