Homage Series No. 5 Marie Décary and Élisabeth Eudes-Pascal Marie Décary and Élisabeth Eudes-Pascal Commissioned by the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ) as part of its Homage Series to composer John Rea. John Rea or the composer’s secret Text and script: Marie Décary Illustrations: Élisabeth Eudes-Pascal Coordination: Guillaume De Pauw Content assistants: Noémie Pascal and Claire Cavanagh Translation: Peggy Nilof Design: Studio Pilote Printing: Quadriscan Homage Series/John Rea Artistic Director: Walter Boudreau General Manager: Aïda Aoun © Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ) Legal submission, 2015 ISBN 978-2-9811517-7-3 Bibliothèque nationale du Québec Bibliothèque nationale du Canada 300, boul. de Maisonneuve Est, Montréal (QC) H2X 3X6 Telephone: 514 843-9305 ext. 301 | Fax: 514-843-3167 smcq.qc.ca SMCQ would like to thank the following for their fnancial support: I have always considered myself to be a wolf in sheep’s clothing… John Rea Note: words attributed to John Rea are based mostly on interviews or taken from his writings. Biography By Noémie Pascal Childhood Take-of John Rea was born in Toronto in 1944 into a recently Rea had barely begun to work on his PhD at Princeton arrived Italian immigrant family where doing music University (USA) when he was asked to take up a post was considered an important thing. While holding at McGill University in Montreal. This was the start down a full-time day job, his father spent his evenings of the composer’s teaching career: from 1973 to this playing the accordion in cabarets. Very early on he day he has held various duties, including professor of encouraged his son by teaching him folk songs, which composition, music theory, orchestration as well as he then asked him to perform at family gatherings. being Dean of the Faculty of Music (today, the Schulich John was only fve years old when his father decided School of Music). to introduce him to the piano, however the budding In tandem with his commitment to education, John Rea musician waited two more years before actually has never stopped composing. The Toronto Symphony placing his fngers on the instrument: with no piano Orchestra as well as Esprit Orchestra have performed at home, his debut was made on a paper keyboard. his works. And upon his moving to Montreal, he quickly His frst attempts at writing music occurred when he took part in its rich cultural life. Rea participated in the was only seven years old, but his piano teacher, who founding of Les Événements du Neuf—active from encouraged him to dedicate himself to learning how 1979 until 1990. He received commissions from the to play the instrument did not appreciate them. Paying SMCQ and the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, and he heed to this advice, Rea set aside any attempts at com- became a member of the SMCQ artistic committee as position until he was 18 years old. Instead, he spent well as joining the editorial committee of the magazine his childhood and adolescence in an in-depth study Circuit, musiques contemporaines. His works —repre- of the piano as well as other artistic matters, such as senting extremely varied genres—have been commis- singing, playing the trumpet, drawing, sculpting, and sioned by ensembles from all over, and have garnered tap-dancing, all with his father’s approval. him prestigious awards. Today John Rea is considered one of Canada’s most Leap forward renowned composers. He continues to combine teaching and creative activity. His compositions travel In 1962, determined to pursue a career in piano per- across Canada as well as to the United States and formance, John Rea began studying music at Wayne Europe, remarkable envoys of his deep interest in the State University in Detroit (USA), where his family had arts and mathematics—in the broadest sense of this moved. It was here that he met composer Ruth Shaw term—together with his interest in music from the Wylie, who would introduce her students to musical past and of human complexity. A fascinating universe: improvisation, particularly by way of graphic scores. abounding with auditory illusions, metamorphoses, Over the next few years both as pianist and sometimes and mirror efects. as percussionist, he participated in a group devoted to directed improvisation—an experience that would lead him back towards composition. He returned to Toronto to study for his Master’s degree in a composition program headed by John Weinzweig, where he discovered the latest works by Xenakis. For John Rea, this came as a real “ear-opener.” In his frst major work, a 30-minute ballet entitled The Days (1969), he decided to explore the techniques and textures of this master of sound, as well as the styles of Stravinsky and Ives. For the young composer, yearning to synthe- size all of his musical knowledge, this was a genuine “leap of faith” ... from which he emerged unscathed: the work soon won an international prize, placing him among the most promising talents of his generation. 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Milestones, premieres and key works 1944 1976 1995 • January 14: Born in Toronto (Ontario) • Visits Java and Bali (Indonesia) with • Alma & Oskar, for voice and piano José Evangelista (CBC National Competition for Young 1949 Composers) • First notes on a paper keyboard 1977 • Hommage à Vasarely, for orchestra 1996 1952 • Visits Argentina and Peru • Plus que la plus que lente, for • Moves to Detroit (USA) improvisational saxophone and • First music compositions, for piano 1978 ensemble (Venice) • Co-founds Les Événements du Neuf 1953 with Vivier, Evangelista and Vaillancourt 1997 • Plays trumpet, piano, sings in a • Les trois derniers jours de Fernando children’s choir and tap dances 1980 Pessoa, Théâtre UBU (1st of many • Visits China and Japan 1958 collaborations in Québec theatre) • Switches from tap dancing to football 1981 2000-2001 and baseball • Governor General’s Award • Sacrée Landowska, for Catherine (Jules-Léger Prize) for Com-possession 1962-1967 Perrin and ECM + (Montreal) • Studies in piano, then a bachelor 1982 2002 degree in composition (Wayne State • Treppenmusik, SMCQ dir. Serge • Man Butterfy, dir. Walter Boudreau, University, Ruth Shaw Wylie) Garant SMCQ • SMCQ Artistic Committee member 1965-1967 • Orchestration of Sieben frühe Lieder • Participates in an improvisation group 1983 (Gustav Mahler), NEM • Vanishing Points, Esprit Orchestra 1965 2003 (Toronto) • European tour with the Wayne State • Schattenwerk, for two violins University Glee Club 1984 2005 • Les raisons des forces mouvantes, 1967-1969 • Opus Prize (Composer of the Year) for fute and string quartet (Vancouver) • Returns to Toronto (CQM) • Master’s degree in composition 1986-1991 • Accident (Tombeau de Grisey), (University of Toronto, John Weinzweig • Dean of the Faculty of Music, Radio France and Radio-Canada (Paris) and Gustav Ciamaga) McGill University 2006 • Discovers the music of Xenakis, 1986 • Serge-Garant Prize (Fondation Stockhausen and Boulez • Ofenes Lied, M.-D. and Y. Parent, Émile-Nelligan) 1969 G. Plante, Événements du neuf • Figures hâtives, concerto for violin, • Moves to Princeton (USA) (Montepulciano, Italy) Montreal Symphony Orchestra • The Days, Geneva Competition award • Orchestration of Pulau Dewata 2011 for ballet music (Claude Vivier) • Winner of Composition Competition 1969-1978 1987 (60th Anniversary of the Canadian • PhD in composition and music theory • Over Time, for orchestra League of Composers) (Princeton University, Milton Babbitt • Time and Again, for orchestra 2013 and Peter Westergaard) 1989 • Icare en émoi ... Dédale à cran, 1970 • Birth of his daughter Béatrice Esprit Orchestra • Anaphora, dir. Marius Constant, 1990 2014 Orford (Quebec) • Las Meninas (after R. Schumann), • Reorchestration of Three pieces 1973 for piano pour orchestra Op.6 by Alban Berg • The Prisoners Play, chamber opera for (Winterthur, Switzerland) 1991 children (Toronto) • Objets perdus, for string quartet 2015-2016 1973 • Tribute paid by the entire cultural 1992 • Moves to Montreal milieu within the framework of the • Governor General’s Award • Teaches composition, theory and SMCQ Homage Series (Jules-Léger Prize) for Objets perdus orchestration at McGill University • Débâcle, Nouvel Ensemble Moderne 1974 1992-95 • The Days, Toronto Symphony • Reorchestration of Alban Berg’s Orchestra, dir. Marius Constant opera, Wozzeck, commissioned by 1974-1980 the NEM (many productions around • Meets Walter Boudreau, Claude Vivier, the world) José Evangelista, Lorraine Vaillancourt 1994 and Denis Gougeon • Einer nach dem Andern, for fve instruments (Liège, Belgium) 28 The Author When she was just eight years old, during an ice storm, Marie Décary came to the conclusion that nothing was better than creating all day long, to survive and thrive. With this realization, she made her way in the world. After studying com- munications, she worked as a journalist, banner designer, research assistant, and flmmaker. For more than twenty-fve years, she acts as movie script analyst and consultant, while dedicating herself to children’s literature. She has written three fairy tales and twelve novels published by La Courte Échelle editions. Marie loves Marie Décary being around children and regularly attends writers’ workshops in primary and secondary schools. Together with Ana Sokolović, she has also written a musical tale for the SMCQ youth sector, Bouba, which in 2001 won a Prix Opus from the Conseil québécois de la musique. The Illustrator Élisabeth Eudes-Pascal has always enjoyed drawing. She studied painting and illustration in Montreal. During the course of her career, she has illustrated close to thirty children’s novels and albums, while also working on schoolbooks and international magazines. Élisabeth has lived in many countries; France, India, and Honduras, where she worked with intellectually challenged persons. “I like help- ing people fnd their creativity because everybody has it inside them and creating is liberating.