The Conservatoire de musique et d'art dramatique du Québec (, CMADQ) is a public network of nine state-subsidised schools offering

higher education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

and

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada. The organization was established in 1942 as a branch of the

Ministère des Affaires culturelles du Québec The Ministry of Culture and Communications (, ) is responsible for promoting and protecting the culture in the Canadian province of Quebec. The current minister, since 2022, is Mathieu Lacombe. The ministry was formed in 2012 after the immigr ...

by the

government of Quebec The Government of Quebec (, ) is the body responsible for the administration of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. The term is typically used to refer to the executive of the day (i.e. Minister of the Crown, mini ...

during the premiership of

Maurice Duplessis Maurice Le Noblet Duplessis, (; April 20, 1890 – September 7, 1959) byname "Le Chef" (, "The Boss"), was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 16th premier of Quebec. A Conservatism in Canada, conservative, Quebec nationalism, ...

. Orchestra conductor Wilfrid Pelletier and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

Claude Champagne are credited for their zeal in promoting this project, and the two men led the organization as director and assistant director for its first several years.Conservatoire de musique du Québec
at

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; ) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with financial support by the federal Department of Canadian Heritage and Society of Com ...

, accessed August 28, 2019 The organization's current director general is Nathalie Letendre. The first two conservatoires in the CMADQ network were for music and were established in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

in 1943 and

Quebec City Quebec City is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Census Metropolitan Area (including surrounding communities) had a populati ...

in 1944. During the 1950s the organization founded additional schools for the theatre arts in both those cities, followed by four additional music conservatoires in 1967 in

Chicoutimi Chicoutimi ( , ) is the most populous borough (arrondissement) of the city of Saguenay in Quebec, Canada. It is situated at the confluence of the Saguenay and Chicoutimi rivers. During the 20th century, it became the main administrative and ...

, Hull,

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, ; ) is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

, and Val-d'Or. The seventh and last school for music to be added was in

Rimouski Rimouski ( ; ) is a city in Quebec, Canada. Rimouski is located in the Bas-Saint-Laurent region, at the mouth of the Rimouski River. It has a population of 48,935 (as of 2021). Rimouski, whose motto is ''Legi patrum fidelis'' (Faithful to ...

in 1973. Many of Canada's most successful musicians and artists of the theatre of the 20th and 21st centuries have been trained or taught at these schools.

History

During the late 1930s and early 1940s, Canadian

Claude Champagne put together a large report on music education. This report was presented to the Quebec government by Champagne and conductor Wilfrid Pelletier with the hopes of establishing Canadian institutes of higher learning for music. The report closely examined music education in Europe as well as in Canada and plans were soon formed to establish a network of state-subsidized schools which would be modelled after European conservatoires, particularly the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...

. On 29 May 1942 The Conservatory Act ('Loi du conservatoire') was passed by the

Legislative Assembly of Quebec A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the authority, legal authority to make laws for a Polity, political entity such as a Sovereign state, country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with th ...

, which allocated a $30,000 budget to form the CMADQ's first school, the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal (CMQM). The CMQM opened its doors in January 1943 with its first round of courses, which were held at the Saint-Sulpice Library. Pelletier was the school's first director and Champagne the first assistant director. With the successful opening of the CMQM, the CMADQ, under Pelletier's leadership, began plans to establish a similar conservatoire in

, the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Québec. These plans were swiftly carried out and the school's first day of classes occurred on 17 January 1944 with Pelletier also serving as this school's first director. Most of the conservatoire's original faculty were also teachers at the CMQM and commuted back and forth between the two schools during its early years. Originally the CMADQ was only concerned with musical education, but Pelletier felt that Quebec needed conservatoires for studies in theatre as well. He proposed the idea to the Quebec government and was met with resistance. However, he won the ear of Premier

and ultimately his influence led to the establishment of the CMADQ's first school for the theatre arts, the Conservatoire d'art dramatique du Québec à Montréal in 1954 under the directorship of Jan Doat. The establishment of the Conservatoire d'art dramatique du Québec à Québec followed four years later. The CMADQ went on to establish four more music conservatoires in 1967. The Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Trois-Rivières was originally established as a preparatory school for conservatoire bound students in 1964. It became a full-fledged conservatoire in the CMADQ network in 1967. The Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Val-d'Or opened in September 1967 and the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Gatineau was opened on 15 October 1967 followed by the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Saguenay on 16 October 1967. The last conservatoire to be added to the CMADQ, the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Rimouski, opened in 1973.

Member schools

The conservatoire consists of seven music schools and two theatre schools: * Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Gatineau (housed in Riverview manor) * Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal * Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Québec * Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Rimouski * Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Saguenay * Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Trois-Rivières * Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Val-d'Or *

Conservatoire d'art dramatique de Montréal The Conservatoire d'art dramatique de Montréal is a Canadian government-funded dramatic school founded in 1954. The first director was Jan Doat. He was succeeded by Jean Valcourt in 1955 on the condition that a branch also be opened in Quebec Cit ...

* Conservatoire d'art dramatique de Québec

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Conservatoire de musique et d'art dramatique du Quebec Schools in Quebec Music schools in Canada Educational institutions established in 1942 1942 establishments in Quebec