The Prix d'Europe is a prestigious Canadian study grant that is funded by the Ministère des Affaires culturelles du Québec of the Government of Quebec. Established in 1911, the award has been distributed annually to a single individual through competition with the exception of 1960-1973 and 2009 when there was a potential for 2 prizes each year and 1971 when no prize was given. Winners of the grant are given a cash prize towards furthering their musical education abroad in Europe. Past winners of the prize include a large number of notable Canadian musicians.[1]
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J.-Arthur Paquet, a Quebecian businessman and organist who was treasurer of the Académie de musique du Québec, was responsible for spearheading the grant's creation in 1911. Paquet gained the support of the academy's board and its secretary, Joseph-Arthur Bernier, and a plan by the school for the project was brought to Quebec premier Sir Lomer Gouin for his personal approval. Gouin supported the project and through his influence the National Assembly of Quebec passed a law promoting the development of musical art on 24 March 1911 which included funding the Prix d'Europe.[1]
The Prix d'Europe initially awarded a cash prize of $3000 in 1911, at that time a very large sum of money. The sum was raised in 1959 ($5000), 1973 ($8000), and (1988). For more than the first 40 years of their history individual participants competed in their respective categories for a single prize. In 1960 two prizes were established: a prize for an a keyboardist or vocalist, and a prize for an orchestral instrumentalist or composer. Some years only one prize was given when the judges deemed there was not a suitable winner in a particular category. In 1974 the competition returned to its original state of offering just a single prize. In 2009 two prizes were given.[1]
On two occasions the Prix d'Europe awarded special grants to individuals: in 1924 to violinist Norman Herschorn and in 1926 to pianist Alice Ste-Marie. The 1938 winner of the competition, Marcel Hébert, drowned before he could avail himself of the grant awarded to him. Accordingly his grant was distributed to two other participants in that year's competition: Noël Brunet and Georges Savaria. No prize was given in 1971 as the judges felt that no applicant had demonstrated a sufficient enough level of skill to have earned the prize.[1]
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1911 Clotilde Coulombe, piano 1912 Léo-Pol Morin, piano 1913 Omer Létourneau, organ 1914 Jean Dansereau, piano 1915 Wilfrid Pelletier, piano 1916 Graziella Dumaine, voice 1917 Germaine Malépart, piano 1918 Jean Kaster, cello 1919 Lucille Dompierre, piano 1920 Ruth Pryce, violin 1921 Auguste Descarries, piano 1922 Anna-Marie Messénie, piano 1923 Conrad Bernier, organ 1924 Gabriel Cusson, cello 1925 Paul Doyon, piano 1926 Lionel Daunais, voice 1927 Rita Savard, piano; Henri Mercure, composition |
1928 Brahm Sand, cello 1929 Jean-Marie Beaudet, organ 1930 Gilberte Martin, piano 1931 Lucien Martin, violin 1932 Bernard Piché, organ 1933 Edwin Bélanger, violin 1934 Georges Lindsay, organ 1935 Georgette Tremblay, organ 1936 Noël Brunet, violin 1937 Georges Savaria, piano 1938 Marcel Hébert, piano 1939 Paule-Aimée Bailly, piano 1940 Suzette Forgues, cello 1941 Marcelle Martin, organ 1942 Claude Lavoie, organ 1943 Berthe Dorval, piano |
1944 Jacqueline Lavoy, piano 1945 Claude Létourneau, violin 1946 Jeanne Landry, piano 1947 Lise DesRosiers, piano 1948 Raymond Daveluy, organ 1949 Clermont Pépin, piano 1950 Josephte Dufresne, piano 1951 Anna-Marie Globenski, piano 1952 Janine Lachance, piano 1953 Kenneth Gilbert, organ 1954 Monik Grenier, piano 1955 Léon Bernier, piano 1956 Monique Munger, piano 1957 Jean Leduc, organ 1958 Lise Boucher, piano 1959 Rachel Martel, piano |
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1960 Jacqueline Martel, voice; Gisèle Daoust, piano 1961 Jacques Hétu, composition; Pierre Ménard, violin 1962 Colette Boky, voice; John McKay, piano 1963 Cécile Lanneville, cello; André Prévost, composition 1964 Claude Ouellet, voice; Claude Savard, piano 1965 Alain Gagnon, composition 1966 Monique Gendron, organ; Bruno Laplante, voice |
1967 Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux, composition; Jacques Larocque, saxophone 1968 Roland Richard, voice; Lucie Madden, organ 1969 Louise LeComte, recorder 1970 John Whitelaw, harpsichord 1971 not awarded 1972 Marie Laferrière, voice; Karen Quinton, piano 1973 Raynald Arseneault, composition; Marcel Saint-Jacques, flute |
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1974 Jacinthe Couture, piano 1975 Denis Bédard, harpsichord 1976 Robert Langevin, flute 1977 Michel Franck, piano 1978 Gilles Carpentier, clarinet 1979 Chantal Juillet, violin 1980 Marie-Danielle Parent, voice 1981 Jacques Després, piano 1982 Johanne Perron, cello 1983 Sophie Rolland, cello 1984 Violaine Melançon, violin 1985 Éric Trudel, piano 1986 Jean Saulnier, piano 1987 Philippe Magnan, oboe |
1988 Brigitte Rolland, violin 1989 Claude Labelle, piano 1990 Marie-Claude Bilodeau, piano 1991 Stéphane Rancourt, oboe 1992 Guylaine Flamand, piano 1993 Pascale Giguère, violin 1994 Mark Freiheit, piano 1995 Stéphan Sylvestre, piano 1996 Frédéric Bednarz, violin 1997 Olivier Thouin, violin 1998 Mariane Patenaude, piano |
1999 Benoit Loiselle, cello 2000 Catherine Meunier, percussion 2001 Manelli Pirzadeh, piano 2002 Vincent Boucher, organ 2003 Wonny Song, piano 2004 Anne-Julie Caron, percussion 2005 Jocelyne Roy, flute 2006 Jean-Sébastien Roy, violin 2007 Caroline Chéhadé, violin 2008 Valérie Milot, harp 2009 Marie-Eve Poupart, violin and Maxime McKinley, composition 2010 Tristan Longval-Gagné, piano 2011 Charles Richard-Hamelin, piano and Gabriel Dharmoo, composition |