Simon Bertrand
composer
“The work that Bertrand composed ... is witness to the subtlety of his sense of harmony and timbre, and his taste for a somewhat ritualistic austerity.”
— Scena Musicale
Biography
Winner of the Opus award 2013 for Composer of the Year, first-prize winner of the Prix collégien de Musique Contemporaine 2014, and Winner of the First International Busan Maru Composition Competition in South Korea 2014, Simon Bertrand has an international reputation that has led him to compose for musicians around the globe such as the Musica Nipponia Ensemble (Japan), the Danish Saxophone Quartet (Denmark), the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (Canada), the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra (China), the Gwandju Symphony Orchestra (Korea), the SMCQ, and the Orchestre National d'île-de-France (France).
Highlights for his upcoming seasons include a premiere with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, Les Violons du Roy, and the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne.
Projects
Weltengeist [Esprit du monde]" by Simon Bertrand will be presented as a world premiere by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM) on Saturday, November 21th in an inspriring concert!
Finnish maestro John Storgårds travels through 300 years of music in this concert bringing together works of staggering evocative power. From Bach’s solemn prayer to Arvo Pärt’s communal meditation, through the creative force of Quebec composer Simon Bertrand, this spiritually invested concert will restore hope and meaning in an uncertain world.
The premiere of Bertrand's Creation on Hélène Dorion's Poems by Les Violons du roy was initially scheduled for March 2020, but has been postpone to spring 2021 in conjonction with the Festival du Livre.
“Words of frost and strong winds. Read her, listen to her: you will come away strengthened by her deliberate fragility. Like me, you’ll feel more keenly the sound of life.” - Bruno Doucey on the poetry of Hélène Dorion.
Simon Bertrand collaborates with American poet Paul Auster to write a cycle of works inspired by his poetry. Supported by grants from the Conseil des arts et lettres du Québec and the New York State Council on the Arts, Bertrand will write the cycle to be premiered by Montreal's Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (NEM) for their 22-23 season.
Simon Bertrand wrote four pieces for the saxophone quartet Quasar, including La Chasse Galerie, a concerto for saxophone quartet and orchestra with narrator inspired by the folktale from Quebec of the same name (The tale of the flying canoe).
Reviews
“Bertrand's Du Crépuscule à L’aube is a great success, well constructed, which captivates by its contrasts and its brilliant use of rhythm.”
— Caroline Rodgers,
September 2018
“Bertrand's music, with its brassy flowing lines, paired perfectly with the cosmic scope of Poussière de soleil (a painting by Jean-Paul Riopelle). The musical gestures literally explode onto the screen to give birth to a magma of a powerful brightness.”
— Richard Boisvert,
March 2015
“The work that Bertrand composed at that event ... is witness to the subtlety of his sense of harmony and timbre, and his taste for a somewhat ritualistic austerity.”
— Maxime McKinley,
September 2014
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