Gilles Baillargeon

Baillargeon, Gilles

Gilles Baillargeon. Violinist, teacher, b Montreal 6 Oct 1928. A pupil of Lucien Sicotte 1942-3, Lucien Martin 1943-4, and (at the CMM) Louis Bailly 1944-7 and Noël Brunet 1947-50, he won a Sarah Fischer Concerts Scholarship in 1948 and the Prix Archambault in 1949. Also in 1949 he was soloist with the Montreal Youth Symphony Orchestra. On a scholarship from the Quebec government he studied 1950-2 at the Paris Conservatoire with René Benedetti and in 1952 in London with Max Rostal. In 1954 he toured England as concertmaster of the Montreal Junior Symphony Orchestra. He has been a member of various CBC orchestras (including that of the radio program 'The Little Symphonies '), the McGill Chamber Orchestra, the Jean-Philippe-Rameau Ensemble, the Quatuor canadien, the Classical Quartet of Montreal, and other organizations. He also played 1953-64 with the MSO, rejoining it in 1970 for a tour of Japan. He was heard frequently as a soloist on radio and TV. He taught violin 1974-5 at UQTR and 1970-88 at the Bourgchemin Cegep in Drummondville, Que, where he was responsible also for orchestra and chamber music classes. He became a member of the Orchestre métropolitain in 1981.

See also Discographies for J. Boyden and C. Corbeil

See also Hervé Baillargeon (his father) and Marcel Baillargeon (his twin brother).