Colombe Pelletier

A pupil of Antonio Létourneau (piano) and Eugène Lapierre (theory) at the Université de Montréal, Pelletier received scholarships from the governments of France in 1947 and Quebec (1949–52 and 1955). She studied in Paris at the École normale with Jules Gentil and Alfred Cortot. She toured Canada 1952–53 for the JMC (YMC), giving 35 concerts with Marthe Létourneau and Jean-Paul Jeannotte. During the summer of 1956, she studied Lieder interpretation with Ernst Reichart at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.

Pelletier accompanied many Canadian and foreign artists on JMC recital tours, including: Ginette Martenot and Eugene Kash (1958–59); Gaston Germain (1965–56); Guy Fallot (1968–69); the violinist Andrzej Grabiec, the singers Bruno Laplante and Anna Chornodolska, the oboist Bernard Jean, and the violinist Adele Armin (1972–73). With JMC, she also played for such vocal productions as Vallerand's Le Magicien and Debussy's L'Enfant prodigue (1961–62), Hazon's L'Amante Cubista in (1967–68), and Rossini’s The Barber of Seville (1976–7).

Pelletier also accompanied such Canadian artists as Colette Boky, Claire Gagnier, Joseph Rouleau, Robert Savoie, André Turp, and Richard Verreau in concert, on radio and TV, and on tours abroad. Pelletier was the official accompanist for the JMC National Competition (1962–67) and an examiner for the École normale de musique in Paris (1963).

She was a coach at the JMC Orford Art Centre (1962–73) and served in that capacity for the CBC, the Montreal Festivals, the Opera Guild of Montreal, and the Théâtre du Nouveau-Monde. She also recorded Jeannotte's Propos intimes with Turp.