Quebec City, Québec, 1969

• Composer

Simon Bertrand received his early musical training Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal where he studied clarinet and saxophone before turning to composition with André Prévost at the Université de Montréal. Residing in France between 1989 and 1998, he pursued further instruction in classical saxophone, and for a period of three years studied writing techniques with Marcel Bitsch, and analysis and composition with Claude Ballif. With the latter, he completed his formal training in 1994 as the highest ranked premier prix in composition in his year, by a unanimous decision of the jury.

With the help of the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec and the Japanese cultural affairs ministry, Bertrand made an extended visit to Japan where, over a two-year period ending in January of 2001, he composed a number of works for traditional instruments such as the Koto, Shakuhashi, and Shinobue. He also gave guest lectures at the Toho Gakuen and Elizabeth universities in Tokyo and Hiroshima respectively.

Bertrand’s oeuvre includes over thirty works, mainly written for solo instruments and small ensembles. His music been widely performed and recorded in France, the United States, Japan, the Netherlands and Denmark, among other countries, by performers such as the Trio Maurice Duruflé, soprano Elena Vassilieva, the Ensemble Nishikawa, the Ensemble Pro Musica Nipponia, Kifu Mitsuhachi (Shakuhashi), Catherine Brisset (Cristal Baschet), the OSQ’s 20th-century ensemble, Trio Contrastes, the New Danish Saxophone Quartet, flautist Guy Pelletier, clarinetists Simon Aldrich and Jean-Guy Boisvert and the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (NEM). A number of his works have also been broadcast by Radio-France, Radio-Canada and NHK (Japan).

Composed without heed to artistic schools of thought or dogmas, his music is characterized by the use of pared-down, pure sonic materials that stem from the contemporary traditions of twentieth-century Western culture as well as non-European sources. The music of Messiaen, Scelci, Ligeti, Feldman, and Vivier have had an influence on Bertrand’s work, as has the traditional musics of the orient.

A resident of Montréal since 2001, Bertrand has served as composer in residence for the Chapelle Historique du Bon-Pasteur (2001-03). He is a member of SOCAN, associate composer of the Canadian Music Centre, and also sits on the board of directors of Codes d’accès.

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