Claude Savard (pianist)

Claude Savard (born October 16, 1941 in Montreal ; † February 13, 2003 ibid) was a Canadian pianist and music teacher.

Savard studied piano with Marie-Louise Boisvert , at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec with Germaine Malépart (1959–63) and as a scholarship holder of the Canada Council with Vlado Perlemuter and Suzanne Roche in Paris (1963–69). He won the Prix ​​d'Europe in 1964 and was a prizewinner at international competitions in Vercelli (1964), Geneva (1965), Lisbon Munich (1966). In 1967 he played the world premiere of Alain Gagnon's Piano Sonata No. 3, which he had composed for him.

At the Concours Musical International de Montréal had Savard 1966-1970 as a piano accompanist with. In 1970 he gave concerts at Carnegie Recital Hall and at the Canada Festival in Marburg. He made his debut with the Orchester symphonique de Montréal in 1971 with Mendelssohn's First Piano Concerto. In 1972 he gave seventeen concerts in Latin America with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1972 to 1976 he completed his training with Irving Heller .

With the Toronto Radio Orchestra of the CBC , he performed Jean Papineau-Coutures Pièce concertante No. 1 (replication) with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra Maurice Ravel's Piano Concerto for the Left Hand (1976) and his Piano Concerto in G major (1977). For the Youth and Music Canada Savard went on several concert tours through Europe and Canada. After a concert tour through Japan, he spent two weeks in China with Maureen Forrester and Claude Corbeil in 1982 , where he gave concerts and master classes. The trip was documented in the film Singing: A Joy in Any Language .

As a piano accompanist, Savard worked with musicians such as Pierrette Alarie , Josephte Clément , Bruno Laplante , Nicole Lorange , Jean-Pierre Rampal , Joseph Rouleau , Sylvia Saurette , Suzanne Shulman and Léopold Simoneau . From 1975 he taught piano and chamber music at the University of Montreal , from 1988 he headed the piano department there. He also taught at the Orford Arts Center from 1975 to 1981 .

source

• The Canadian Encyclopedia - Claude Savard