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When a fire gutted the Chapelle historique du Bon-Pasteur a year ago, the Prix d’Europe, Quebec’s oldest music competition, was forced to change location for its 112th edition, set for this June at the Conservatoire de musique de Montreal. Pianist and actor Jean Marchand, who has hosted the event since 2021, stresses the prestige attached to it, due as much to the generous support from the provincial Ministry of Culture and Communications as well as private donors, all of whom ensure its continuity. In recent years, the competition attributes a special prize to an accompanist: a bursary of $1,000 in the host’s name.
A member of the Académie de musique du Québec, pianist Monik Grenier is one of the event’s longest standing supporters. In recognition of her first prize garnered in 1954, she established a $2,000 stipend for a performer playing the work of a Québécois composer, thus enhancing the exposure of homegrown talents.
Looking back at the competition’s evolution over the years, Grenier notes that winners during the war years had no other option but to study in the United States. Nowadays, they can travel to pretty well anywhere on the planet to improve themselves.
Grenier’s memories of 70 years ago and the effects it had on her career are still vivid in her mind. “It gave me so much freedom,” she says, “and the experience of being tutored by the likes of Yves Nat, Marguerite Long, Norbert Dufourcq, Nadia Boulanger and others was so enthralling. What an opportunity the Prix d’Europe was to be able to rise from the ranks of students to that of professionals.”
Marie-Danielle Parent, the 1980 prize winner for voice, decided to go south to New York to hone her craft under the guidance of soprano Rose Brampton and Alberta Masiello, the latter a vocal coach and one-time rehearsal director at the Metropolitan Opera. “The prestige and recognition given by the competition enabled me to get steady work over the years,”says Parent, “be it at the Opéra de Montréal, recitals recorded by Radio-Canada and creating new works by Canadian composers.”
Last year’s winner, Elisabeth St-Gelais, an Innu soprano from Pessamit, headed to Europe to study bel canto in Florence last summer with Maestro Giovanni Regiolli. The prize, she says, increased her profile in the market significantly, drawing the attention of employers and musicians alike—not to mention the financial perks and added support for her professional pursuits. “I simply adored the experience,” says the vocalist, “and had the highest regards for the jury (comprised of three to five musicians). It was so well organized and all went off without a hitch. I would enjoin anyone to enter the qualification rounds.”
When one knows that the Prix d’Europe is unique in Quebec to offer a handsome $50,000 cash award to study abroad, no one could ever question the importance of its purpose—namely, to promote the careers of aspiring talents.
Translation by Marc Chénard
The 112th edition of the Prix d’Europe takes place at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal from June 8-12. Closing date for registrations: March 15. https://www.prixdeurope.ca.
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