Bernard Jean

Bernard Jean

(Joseph Christian) Bernard Jean. Oboist, teacher, conductor, b Kénogami (now Jonquière), Que, 21 Sep 1948; premier prix oboe (CMQ) 1968, premier prix oboe (Paris Cons) 1970, premier prix chamber music (Paris Cons) 1971. At the CMQ, he studied piano 1962-3 with Hélène Landry and oboe 1962-6 with Réal Gagnier and 1966-8 with Jacques Simard. He was a prize winner in 1966 in the JMC's (YMC) competition and the Canadian Music Competitions. He played english horn 1966-8 in the Quebec Symphony Orchestra and toured 1967-8 for the JMC. On a Canada Council scholarship he continued his studies 1968-71 with Étienne Baudo at the Paris Cons, gave recitals in Paris, and played in 1969 in Nice. In 1971 he studied at the international music camp in Pécs, Hungary, and joined the French Chamber Music Quartet for concerts at the Festival Loewenguth. Returning to Quebec that year, he was the principal oboe 1972-3 of the Quebec SO and taught oboe 1972-5 at Laval University and at the Conservatoire de Trois-Rivières. He was a founding member (1972-87) of the Quebec Woodwind Quintet and made recordings with the ensemble. He toured Germany 1972-3 with the pianist Colombe Pelletier for the JMC and in 1973 taught at the JMC Orford Art Centre's summer camp, recorded a series of recitals on CBC radio, played as a soloist with the NACO, and was the principal oboe in the CBC Montreal orchestra. In 1975 his performance of Martinu°'s Concerto with a CBC orchestra at the Salle Claude-Champagne in Montreal, for the radio program 'Les Grands Concerts,' prompted Gilles Potvin to describe him as 'a virtuoso and a musician without equal in this exacting work' (Le Devoir, 3 Feb 1975). With the organist Monique Gendron, he recorded sonatas by Bach and Handel, and Bengt Hambraeus'Variations sur un thème de Gilles Vigneault (1988, SNE 530). In 1990 he conducted the Ensemble St-Louis-de-France, which he founded in 1987, on a CD recording (SNE 555) of works by Milhaud, Caplet, Constant, and Patch, with the saxophonist Daniel Gauthier. (See also Discography for Orchestre métropolitain.) Jean began teaching at the CMM in 1975. His pupils have included Louise Pellerin, Pierre-M. Plante, and Pierre-V. Plante.