Gilles Bellemare (born 29 March 1952,

Shawinigan Shawinigan () is a city located on the Saint-Maurice River in the Mauricie area in Quebec, Canada. It had a population of 49,349 as of the 2016 Canadian census. Shawinigan is also a territory equivalent to a regional county municipality (TE) and ...

) is a Canadian composer,

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

, and

music educator Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do original ...

. He has been commissioned to write music for more than 30 professional ensembles internationally, many of which have been recorded or performed on

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

under his baton. He has also written a number of

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

s and is an associate of the

Canadian Music Centre The Canadian Music Centre was founded in 1959 by a group of Canadian composers who saw a need to create a repository for Canadian music. It now holds Canada's largest collection of Canadian concert music, and works to promote the music of its A ...

. In 1977 he was awarded the William St Clair Low Award by the

Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada The Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada (french: Association des compositeurs, auteurs et éditeurs du Canada Ltée) was a Canadian copyright collective for the right to communicate with the public and publicly perform musical wo ...

. In 1978 he assumed the post of principal conductor and artistic director of the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières, a post he held until 2004. Under his leadership, the orchestra produced several commercial recordings and premiered works by such contemporary Canadian composers as

Timothy Brady Timothy Wesley John Brady (born 11 July 1956) is a Canadian composer, electric guitarist, improvising musician, concert producer, record producer and cultural activist. Working in the field of contemporary classical music, experimental music, ...

, Jacques Faubert,

Anne Lauber Anne Lauber (born 28 July 1943 in Zürich) is a Canadian composer, conductor, and music educator. A member of the Canadian League of Composers and an associate of the Canadian Music Centre, she has been commissioned to write works by the Quebec S ...

, and Myke Roy. Bellerme studied at the

Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Trois-Rivières The Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Trois-Rivières (CMQT) is a music conservatory located in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada. Most of the school's students come from the Saint-Maurice region of Quebec; many of them from the conservatoi ...

from 1968 to 1978, where he earned premier prizes in

harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. Howev ...

(1972),

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

(1974), and

music composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called c ...

(1978). Among his most influential teachers at the school were percussionist Thomas Cavanagh and music theorist

Armando Santiago Armando Santiago (born 18 June 1932) is a Canadian composer, conductor, music educator, and university administrator of Portuguese birth. A member of the Canadian League of Composers, his compositional output includes a considerable amount of o ...

. In the summer of 1977 he studied composition with

Harry Freedman Harry Freedman (''Henryk Frydmann''), (April 5, 1922 – September 16, 2005) was a Canadian composer, English hornist, and music educator of Polish birth. He wrote a significant amount of symphonic works, including the scores to films such as ''T ...

at the Courtenay Youth Music Centre through scholarships from the Canadian and Quebec governments. Further grants allowed him to study with

Franco Donatoni Franco Donatoni (9 June 1927 – 17 August 2000) was an Italian composer. Biography Born in Verona, Donatoni started studying violin at the age of seven, and frequented the local music academy. Later, he studied at the Milan Conservatory ...

at the

Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia ( en, National Academy of St Cecilia) is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, founded by the papal bull ''Ratione congruit'', issued by Sixtus V in 1585, which invoked two saints promi ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, Italy (1978–1980) and with Erich Urbanner at the

University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (german: link=no, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, abbreviated MDW) is an Austrian university located in Vienna, established in 1817. With a student body of over three thousa ...

(1980–1981). Bellerme is married to pianist Denise Trudel. He has taught on the faculty of the

since 1984.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellemare, Gilles 1952 births Living people Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia alumni University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna alumni Canadian composers Canadian male composers Male conductors (music) Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Trois-Rivières alumni Academic staff of the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Trois-Rivières Canadian music educators People from Shawinigan 21st-century Canadian conductors (music) 21st-century Canadian male musicians