Clermont Pépin

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Clermont Pépin (May 15, 1926 – September 2, 2006) was a Canadian pianist, composer and teacher.

He was born Jean Joseph Clermont Pépin in St-Georges-de-Beauce, Quebec in 1926. From 1941 to 1944, Pépin studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He won a Quebec government study grant, the Prix d'Europe, in 1949 and studied music in Paris. Pépin taught at the Conservatoire de musique et d'art dramatique du Québec in Montreal from 1955 to 1964 and later served as director.

His pupils included François Dompierre, André Gagnon, André Prévost and Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux. Pépin was best known for his String Quartets Nos. 3 and 4, his Symphonies Nos. 3 (Quasars), 4 (La messe sur le monde) and 5 (Implosion) and his ballets L'Oiseau-phénix and Le Porte-rêve. He was named to the Order of Canada in 1981.

In 1985, he established the Concours de Musique Clermont-Pépin to encourage the development of artists from the Beauce region of Quebec. In 1990, he was named an officer of the National Order of Quebec.

He died of liver cancer in 2006, aged 80.