Lorraine Vaillancourt
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Conductor and pianist Lorraine Vaillancourt is the founder and artistic director of the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne (NEM), ensemble-in-residence at the University of Montreal’s Faculty of Music, where she has been teaching since 1971 and leading its contemporary music workshop since 1974. As NEM’s director, Ms. Vaillancourt has premiered many works in concerts across Canada and on international tours. She regularly serves as guest conductor for numerous ensembles and orchestras as the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Orchestre symphonique de Québec and Orchestre Métropolitain, as well as the Orchestre de Cannes, Gulbenkian Orchestra (Lisbon), Orchestre national de la RAI (Turin),
Philharmonique de Nice, Ensemble Orchestral Contemporain (Lyon), Plural Ensemble de Madrid and Percussions de Strasbourg, among others. Along with composers José Evangelista, John Rea and Claude Vivier, Lorraine Vaillancourt is a founding member of the Montreal-based concert society Les Événements du Neuf (1978 to 1989). In 1990, she supported the creation of Circuit, a North American contemporary music magazine. In June 2013, she received an honorary doctorate from Laval University (Quebec City) and in December 2014 she was introduced as a Member (TM) of the Order of Canada in recognition of her significant contribution to contemporary music.