Victor Bouchard, Canadian pianist and composer (b. 1926)
Victor Bouchard OC CQ (April 11, 1926 – March 22, 2011) was a Canadian pianist and composer.
Bouchard received his first musical training from 1941 to 1946 at the Collège de Lévis with Father Alphonse Tardif. Then he studied at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec under Tardif (harmony), Hélène Landry (piano) and Françoise Aubut (theory). In 1950 he married pianist Renée Morisset.
From 1950 to 1953 Bouchard studied in Paris, where he was a student of Alfred Cortot and Antoine Reboulot. From 1952 he performed with his wife as a piano duo. They toured Canada, Belgium, Holland and Italy starting in the mid-1950s. After debuting at Carnegie Hall, they made many appearances in the United States between 1965 and 1970.
Several composers wrote pieces for the duo. These include Clermont Pépin's Nombres for two pianos and orchestra (1963), Roger Matton's Concerto (1964) and a sonata by Jacques Hétu. For a recording of Matton's concerto, they were awarded the Prix Pierre-Mercure.
Bouchard was President of the Jeunesses musicales du Canada from 1957 to 1959 and in 1961 became vice president of the Académie de musique du Québec. From 1967 to 1971 he worked for the Ministry of Education of Quebec, and from 1978 to 1980 as the General Director of the Quebec Conservatory. Besides chamber works (including a string quartet and a Danse canadienne for violin and piano) Bouchard composed more than 100 French-Canadian folk song arrangements.
2011Mar, 22
Victor Bouchard
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Egyptian Revolution of 2011
The first wave of the Egyptian revolution begins throughout the country, marked by street demonstrations, rallies, acts of civil disobedience, riots, labour strikes, and violent clashes. - 11Feb
Egyptian Revolution of 2011
The first wave of the Egyptian revolution culminates in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and the transfer of power to the Supreme Military Council after 18 days of protests. - 11Mar
2011 Japanese tsunami
An earthquake measuring 9.0 in magnitude strikes 130 km (81 mi) east of Sendai, Japan, triggering a tsunami killing thousands of people. This event also triggered the second largest nuclear accident in history, and one of only two events to be classified as a Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale. - 12Mar
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
A reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant melts and explodes and releases radioactivity into the atmosphere a day after Japan's earthquake. - 12Nov
European sovereign debt crisis
Silvio Berlusconi tenders his resignation as Prime Minister of Italy, effective November 16, due in large part to the European sovereign debt crisis.