Marie-Josée Simard (born November 29, 1956) is a Canadian percussionist and music educator living in
Quebec
Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...
.
She was born in
La Baie
La Baie (, ) is one of three boroughs in the city of Saguenay, Quebec, Canada. It was created during Quebec's municipal reorganization in 2002. From 1976 to 2001, it was known as the Town of La Baie, a municipality composed of the Grande-Bai ...
vibraphone
The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...
with her parents' orchestra. Simard was taught by her mother until she entered the
Conservatoire de musique et d'art dramatique du Québec
The Conservatoire de musique et d'art dramatique du Québec (, CMADQ) is a public network of nine state-subsidised schools offering higher education in music and theatre in Quebec, Canada. The organization was established in 1942 as a branch of th ...
in 1974. Then, from 1976 to 1979, she studied at the
Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal
The Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal (, CMQM) is a music conservatory located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In addition to the Montreal region, the school takes in students from nearby cities, including Granby, Joliette, St-Jean ...
(CMM). She was the first woman to graduate as a percussionist and the first woman to win a first prize in percussion from the CMM. She continued her studies at the Orford Art Centre, with Michael Skinner and
James Blades
James Blades OBE (9 September 190119 May 1999) was an English percussionist.
He was one of the most distinguished percussionists in Western music, with a long and varied career. His book ''Percussion Instruments and their History'' (1971) is a s ...
in
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
and with
Leigh Howard Stevens
Leigh Howard Stevens (born March 9, 1953, in Orange, New Jersey) is a marimba artist best known for developing, codifying, and promoting the Stevens technique or Musser-Stevens grip, a method of independent four-mallet marimba performance based on ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. In 1979, she won the Search for Stars contest sponsored by the du Maurier Council for the Performing Arts.
During the 1984 royal visit to Canada by Queen
Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
and the Duke of Edinburgh, Simard performed as a guest soloist with the
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1906, the TSO gave regular concerts at Massey Hall until 1982, and since then has performed at Roy Thomson Hall. The TSO also manages the Toron ...
. In 1992, she represented Canada in a
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...
benefit concert. She was a soloist with Canadian orchestras including the
Montreal Symphony Orchestra
The Montreal Symphony Orchestra () is a Canadian symphony orchestra based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The orchestra’s home is the Montreal Symphony House at Place des Arts.
History
Several orchestras were precursor ensembles to the curren ...
, the Orchestre des jeunes du Québec, the
Kingston Symphony The Kingston Symphony (KS) is a Canadian orchestra based in Kingston, Ontario. Since 2014 the principal conductor of the symphony has been Evan Mitchell. The ensemble performs most of its concerts at The Grand Theatre.
, the
Edmonton Symphony Orchestra
The Edmonton Symphony Orchestra (ESO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Edmonton, Alberta. As the professional orchestra of Alberta's creative capital city it presents over 85 concerts a year of symphonic music in all genres, from classical to co ...
, the
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The VSO performs at the Orpheum, which has been the orchestra's permanent home since 1977. With an annual operating budget of $16 million, it is ...
and the
Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony
The Regional Municipality of Waterloo (Waterloo Region or Region of Waterloo) is a metropolitan area of Southern Ontario, Canada. It contains the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo (KWC or Tri-Cities), and the townships of North Dumfrie ...
. She has also performed on broadcasts by the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (), branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian Public broadcasting, public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its E ...
and toured internationally.
More than 25 works have been written for and performed for the first time by her including:
* ''Concerto for Marimba and Vibraphone'' by
Rachel Laurin
Rachel Laurin (, August 11, 1961 – August 13, 2023) was a Canadian organist, composer and music educator in Quebec.
Biography
Rachel Laurin was born in Saint-Benoît, Quebec, on August 11, 1961. Laurin studied organ with . She went on to study a ...
* ''Xylo fun'' by
François Dompierre
François Dompierre C.M. (born July 1, 1943) is a Canadian musician, songwriter and composer, best known as a composer of film scores.Pierre-Max Dubois
* ''Dialogues for marimba and orchestra'' by Denis Gougeon
* ''Venu de l'est: hiver '44'' by
Michel Longtin
Michel Longtin (born 20 May 1946) is a Canadian composer and music educator based in Montreal. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre and a member of the Canadian League of Composers, he won the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music in 19 ...
* ''Concerto for
marimba
The marimba ( ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the mari ...
and orchestra'' by
Clermont Pépin
Clermont Pépin (May 15, 1926 – September 2, 2006) was a Canadians, Canadian pianist, composer and teacher who lived in Quebec.
Early life and education
Jean Joseph Clermont Pépin was born in Saint-Georges, Quebec, Saint-Georges, Quebec in ...
* the concerto for marimba and vibraphone by Rumanian composer
Maya Badian
Maya Badian (born 18 April 1945 in Bucharest) is a Romanian-born Canadian composer, musicologist, and professor.
Biography
Badian began to compose at five years of age, and later attended the Bucharest National University of Music in Bucharest ...
Simard has also conducted percussion ensembles.
She worked at the
Domaine Forget
Le Domaine Forget de Charlevoix is an international music festival and a music and dance academy in Saint-Irénée, Quebec, Saint-Irénée, Charlevoix, Quebec, Canada. The domain is a operated by a non-profit organization occupying a large set ...
Music and Dance Academy until 1992, when she became a professor at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal. Simard has served on juries for the
Canada Council
The Canada Council for the Arts (), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporations of Canada, Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It is Canada's public arts funder, with a mandate to ...