|
|||||||||
Industry News
|
Andre Gagnon
In less than ten years, his modern and unique style built up a reputation of talented composer in Quebec, in Canada, then in Europe. His first recordings were a big success: Pour les amants, Mes quatre saisons, les Turluteries, Saga and Neiges. Some of his instrumental compositions like Wow are worldwide hits. After his first pan-canadian tour, everybody agreed on the originality of his music and the plentifulness of his style. He rapidly became one of the favorite representatives of the country. He produced a lot of shows and concerts, registered new recordings like le Saint-Laurent, Mouvements and Virage a gauche, signed the music of Mad Shadows presented by the National Ballet of Canada, realized the music band of many films like Les Jeux de la � olympiade by Jean-Claude Labrecque, Running by Steven Stern, Night Flight by Desmond Davis, Phoebia by John Huston et Hot Touch by Roger Vadim. In 1979, he received the Order of Canada for his exceptional contribution to music. Then, his international career emerged. He travelled through many countries, giving concerts and shows on the most renowned performance centres: United States, Rumania, Greece, Venezuela, Australia, England, and in Canada where he created an ensemble with the Quatuor Orford et interprets Mozart's concerti with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. He wrote the music for two plays, The School of Scandal and Oedipus Rex, directed by Robin Philips at the famous Stratford Festival. He produced several recordings like Impressions, Comme dans un film and Des dames de coeur, many of them award-winners. His shows Seul avec... where he introduced from the stage a different performer every night were a real success. In 1987, he virtually exploded in Japan with three touring concerts, one with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and the production of seven recordings, particularly Les Jours tranquilles and Presque bleu. Beside this, he composed the musical partition of Nelligan, an opera written by the great dramatist Michel Tremblay. Created by the Montreal Opera, Nelligan received the Felix Award for the Best Show of the Year. He produced the theme music of many television series like Un signe de feu, films like The Pianist by Claude Gagnon, and plays like Les Belles-Soeurs by Michel Tremblay. As a director, he staged many shows and special events like Chere Madame Bolduc starring Diane Dufresne, and restaged at Place des Arts a series of thirty performances Seul avec. After his launching in Japan of Noel, an album which enjoys Christmas year after year and received the 1993 Felix Award for the Best Instrumental Album of the Year, Andre Gagnon prepared a new successful album, Romantique, for which he was later awarded the Juno for Intrumental Artist of the Year in 1995. As a person who brought the international spotlight to Canada for his music, the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada honoured Andre Gagnon with the prestigious William Harold Moon Award. Australia and Mexico called for him. He performed a series of interviews, concerts and TV shows in Quebec and Maritimes. Many compositions served as film scores for Le Cheval blanc, directed by the Japanese M. Shina. He signed the score for the teleseries Les Machos, written by Lise Payette, composed the music for the telefilm Pour l'amour de Thomas, written by Claude Gagnon and for Le Boulard by Andre Melan,con. He launched two albums in a row: Piano, a summary of his most prodigious compositions since the last twenty years, and Twilight Time covering all time american songs | ||||||||