ROUX Patrick

Patrick Roux

Guitarist and composer
Professor, Conservatoire de musique du Québec in Gatineau.
Professor, University of Ottawa, Ontario.
Professor, International Music and Dance Academy at Domaine Forget, Charlevoix, Quebec.

Patrick Roux was born in Marseille, France, in 1962. In 1967, he immigrated to Canada, however, it was only in 1979 when he began his musical studies at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec in Gatineau. In 1984, as a student in the guitar class of Jean Vallières, he earned a unanimous First Prize diploma from the jury.

A scholarship recipient of the Canada Council for the Arts, he studied with David Russell in London, England. He will also take masterclasses with Manuel Barrueco, Leo Brouwer, Hubert Käppel, Alexandre Lagoya and Roberto Aussel, among others.

A prizewinner in many prestigious competitions, Patrick Roux had a first place finish, in 1989, at the National Guitar Competition of Canada. In 1992, he came second at the Montélimar International Guitar Duo Competition in France and clinched third place, in 1983, at the Guitar Foundation of the America International Artist Competition, becoming the first Canadian guitarist to reach the finals at this renowned competition.

In the early 1990s, Patrick Roux developed a great passion for composition. The duo Les Deux Amis and the ensemble Contretemps/Go, which he created in 1992, helped inspire the development of a new and unique repertoire as demonstrated in the two discs that were to follow. Today, his works, all published by Productions d’OZ, are internationally known and performed by the best performers in the world. 

A founding member of the Canadian Guitar Quartet, Patrick Roux played in this ensemble for 12 years, performing in Canada, the United States, South America and Europe. The quartet has recorded three discs including Les Scènes de Quartiers, dedicated to the music of Patrick Roux, and, in 2006, this record won the Trille Or prize awarded to the best instrumental music disc. In 2013, the disc Comme un tango, entirely devoted to Roux’s music, enlisted the participation of several well-known international performers. 

Patrick Roux is a founding member of the G8 guitar octet, which has toured Europe and Canada many times. In 2012, the octet launched the disc Between Two Continents and, in 2015, with the Orchestre symphonique de Gatineau, gave the world premiere of the first concerto for eight guitars and orchestra, Between Two Continents, written by Patrick Roux. The year 2017 marks the completion of his first solo disc, entitled Les Scènes panoramiques, devoted entirely to his own compositions.

Patrick Roux has performed several times on Radio-Canada’s French and English networks. He has been a guest soloist with many renowned orchestras and chamber ensembles while creating over the years his entire corpus of concertos. In 1999, he produced the world premiere of Four Dialogues for Guitar and Chamber Orchestra, a concerto written by the Canadian composer Violet Archer, with the Ottawa contemporary music ensemble Espace Musique. Patrick Roux also performed for dignitaries such as the Queen of Jordan, the Princess of Holland, the Prime Minister of Canada and the Governor General of Canada. 

He is tenured guitar class teacher at the Conservatoire de musique de Gatineau, since 1985, a professor at the Faculty of Music at the University of Ottawa, since 1993, and professor at the International Academy of Music and Dance at Domaine Forget since 1996. Patrick Roux is also the founder and artistic director of the Guitar Alla Grande Festival, which was launched in 2006.