Isabelle Demers (born 1982) is a Quebec concert organist.
Born in Lachine, Quebec, Demers began studying piano at the age of six with Mrs. France David. At the age of 11, she entered the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal and continued in piano with Madeleine Bélanger and Raoul Sosa. She started studying organ at the age of 16, in private lessons with Yves Garand. The following year, parallel to the piano, she continued to play the organ with Jean Le Buis and Régis Rousseau. She competed in piano and organ in the spring of 2003.
During her stay at the Conservatory, she won many prizes, including second prize in the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition in 2000. She is also the recipient of several scholarships from the Wilfrid Pelletier and McAbbie Foundations for her excellent academic results.
In 2003, she received a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to study piano at the École Normale de Musique de Paris for one year. Having decided to abandon the piano to devote herself to the organ, she auditioned in 2004 at the Juilliard School in New York to do her master's degree. She entered Paul Jacobs's class. She graduated in 2006, at the same time as Daniel Sullivan, Chelsea Chen and Cameron Carpenter. She was awarded the Godfrey Hewitt Fellowship in 2006. Under the supervision of Carl Schachter, she continued her doctoral studies on the motifs used in Bach's St John Passion .
During her studies at Juilliard, she was assistant organist at Trinity Church on Wall Street in New York and participated in several competitions: Miami, Arthur-Poister (Syracuse), Dublin, CCO, NYACOP, Jordan. She played at the 2008 National Convention of the American Guild of Organists, in Minneapolis, and that of Washington, D.C. in 2010.
Following her participation in the "Royal Canadian College of Organists" (RCC/RCCO) national competition in 2005, she was invited to play at the 2009 convention in Toronto.
She was the guest organist at the American Institute of Organbuilders and the International Society of Organbuilders (AIO-ISO) convention held in Montreal in August 2010.
She plays across Canada and the United States and is regularly invited to play at the basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal.
Her virtuoso piano technique and the fact that she plays all her repertoire from memory set her apart in the world of organists.
She currently serves as professor of organ at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
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Juliette Nadia Boulanger was a French music teacher and conductor. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist.
Kenneth Albert Gilbert was a Canadian harpsichordist, organist, musicologist, and music educator.
Jeanne Marie-Madeleine Demessieux was a French organist, pianist, composer, and teacher. She was the chief organist at Saint-Esprit for 29 years and at La Madeleine in Paris starting in 1962. She performed internationally as a concert organist and was the first female organist to sign a record contract. She went on to record many organ works, including her own compositions.
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Isabelle Delorme was a Canadian composer, pianist, and music educator. As a composer, her works are lyrical in nature and follow more traditional ideas of harmony as opposed to the avant-garde music that was in vogue in her day. She was an active recitalist but is best remembered for her impact as a teacher of music theory.
Joseph Georges-Émile Gaston Allaire was a Canadian musicologist, organist, pianist, composer, and music educator of American birth. His compositional output includes several preludes for organ, an organ work on French carols, some motets and other choral works, a communion service, a prelude and fugue for string orchestra, and a polyphonic mass. He also wrote Suite laurentienne for orchestra from which the Poème and the Menuet were premiered by the Quebec Symphony Orchestra in 1949, and composed the music for the 1953 film The Man on the Beach. His Marche (1964) and Petite Suite (1965) were both written for the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps Band.
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Henri Gagnon was a Canadian composer, organist, and music educator. He spent 51 years playing the organ at the Notre-Dame Basilica-Cathedral of Quebec City where, according to music historian François Brassard, he earned "a prestige similar to that of the famous organists of Europe". He was a much admired teacher and taught at several institutions, notably succeeding Wilfrid Pelletier as the second director of the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Québec. As a composer, he produced mainly works for solo organ and piano; although he did write a few choral works and vocal pieces as well. One of his more popular works was Rondel de Thibaut de Champagne which Edward Johnson and Rodolphe Plamondon often performed in their recitals. Two of his works, Mazurka (1907) and Deux Antiennes, were recorded by the CBC Montreal Orchestra.
Benoît Fidèle Poirier was a Canadian organist, composer, and music educator. He was a church organist and taught at several educational and religious institutions in Montreal, Quebec. He created a number of compositions for organ and piano.
François Morel was a Canadian composer, pianist, conductor, and music educator. An associate of the Canadian Music Centre, he was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 1994 and was awarded the Prix Denise-Pelletier in 1996. He has had his works premiered by the CBC Symphony Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and the Philadelphia Orchestra.
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Rachel Laurin was a Canadian organist, composer and music educator in Quebec.
Vincent Warnier is a contemporary French classical organist.
David Jalbert is a Canadian concert pianist and professor at the University of Ottawa. He is considered by the CBC one of Canada's top 15 classical pianists "this country has ever produced".
Éric Maurice Lebrun is a French composer, organist, musicologist, and author.
Françoise Aubut-Pratte, née Aubut was a Canadian concert organist, and music teacher.
Victor Togni was a Swiss Canadian organist, improviser, composer, and teacher. His compositions received positive reception. He won first prize at the American Guild of Organists' Improvisation Competition on June 26, 1964.
Sophie-Véronique Colette Claude Cauchefer-Choplin is a French organist.
