François Dompierre C.M. (born July 1, 1943) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

musician, songwriter and composer, best known as a composer of

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

s.François Dompierre
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 ...

Early life and education

Dompierre was born in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, and grew up in

Hull, Quebec Hull is the central business district and oldest neighbourhood of the city of Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. It is located on the west bank of the Gatineau River and the north shore of the Ottawa River, directly opposite Ottawa. As part of Canada's ...

(now

Gatineau Gatineau ( ; ) is a city in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is located on the northern bank of the Ottawa River, directly across from Ottawa, Ontario. Gatineau is the largest city in the Outaouais administrative region of Quebec and is also p ...

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, ...

)."Infatigable François Dompierre"
''ICI Radio Canada'', 15 December 2018, Stéphanie Rhéaume His mother played piano and his father was a choir director. He studied music at the

Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal The Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal (, CMQM) is a music conservatory located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In addition to the Montreal region, the school takes in students from nearby cities, including Granby, Joliette, St-Jean ...

Career

Dompierre first became known as a performer of jazz-inspired ''

chansonnier A chansonnier (, , Galician and , or ''canzoniéro'', ) is a manuscript or printed book which contains a collection of chansons, or polyphonic and monophonic settings of songs, hence literally " song-books"; however, some manuscripts are call ...

'' pop. He soon abandoned this to pursue classical composition and conducting, working with orchestras such as the

Montreal Symphony Orchestra The Montreal Symphony Orchestra () is a Canadian symphony orchestra based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The orchestra’s home is the Montreal Symphony House at Place des Arts. History Several orchestras were precursor ensembles to the curren ...

, the Quebec Symphony Orchestra and the

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The VSO performs at the Orpheum, which has been the orchestra's permanent home since 1977. With an annual operating budget of $16 million, it is ...

. Dompierre composed scores for many films; he is a two-time

Genie Award The Genie Awards were given out annually by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television to recognize the best of Canadian cinema from 1980–2012. They succeeded the Canadian Film Awards (1949–1978), known as the "Etrog Awards" for sculptor ...

winner for Best Original Score, winning at the

6th Genie Awards The 6th Genie Awards were held on March 21, 1985, to honour to honour Canadian films released in 1984. Only four films were nominated for Best Motion Picture this year; two additional films tied for the fifth spot, and the academy opted to nom ...

for ''

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'' and at the 7th Genie Awards for '' The Alley Cat'', and a two-time winner for Best Original Song, winning at the

18th Genie Awards The 18th Genie Awards were held on 14 December 1997 to honour Canadian films released that year. to honour the best Canadian films of 1997. The ceremony's hosts were film critics Geoff Pevere and Cameron Bailey. For this year, CBC Television dec ...

as cowriter with

Luc Plamondon Luc Plamondon (born March 2, 1942) is a French Canadians, French-Canadian lyricist and music executive. His work includes the musicals Starmania (musical), ''Starmania'' and Notre-Dame de Paris (musical), ''Notre-Dame de Paris''. He is the brot ...

of "L'Homme idéal" and at the

21st Genie Awards The 21st Genie Awards were held in 2001 to honour films released in 2000. The ceremony was hosted by Brian Linehan. Nominees and winners The Genie Award winner in each category is shown in bold along with nominees. References {{Canadian Scree ...

for "Fortuna". Other films for which he has composed scores have included '' Deliver Us from Evil (Délivrez-nous du mal)'', ''

Hold on to Daddy's Ears ''Hold on to Daddy's Ears'' (), also known as ''What the Hell Are They Complaining About?'',Gerald Pratley, ''A Century of Canadian Cinema''. Lynx Images, 2003. . p. 237. is a Canadian comedy film, directed by Jean Bissonnette and released in 197 ...

(Tiens-toi bien après les oreilles à papa)'', ''

The Decline of the American Empire ''The Decline of the American Empire'' () is a 1986 Canadian sex comedy-Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Denys Arcand and starring Rémy Girard, Pierre Curzi and Dorothée Berryman. The film follows a group of intellectual fr ...

'', ''

Jesus of Montreal ''Jesus of Montreal'' () is a 1989 Canadian comedy drama film written and directed by Denys Arcand, and starring Lothaire Bluteau, Catherine Wilkening and Johanne-Marie Tremblay. The film tells the story of a group of actors in Montreal who pe ...

'', ''

The Tin Flute ''The Tin Flute'' (original French title ''Bonheur d'occasion'', literally "secondhand happiness") is the first novel by Canadian author Gabrielle Roy and a classic of Canadian fiction. Imbued with Roy's brand of compassion and understanding, th ...

'' and ''

The Passion of Augustine ''The Passion of Augustine'' () is a Canadian drama film from Quebec, directed by Léa Pool and released in 2015. The film's cast also includes Anne-Élisabeth Bossé, Gilbert Sicotte, Marie Tifo, Danielle Fichaud, Lysandre Ménard, Andrée ...

''. In 2008, Dompierre was the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Francophone

SOCAN The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is a Canadian performance rights organization that represents the performing rights of more than 175,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. The organization collect ...

Awards held in Montreal. He was appointed a Member of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

in 2014. Dompierre composed ''24 Preludes'', in remembrance of Bob Alain, a jazz pianist who influenced his early career. In 2015, the film ''La passion d’Augustine'', scored by Dompierre, was released. That year the Prix Jutra announced that Dompierre would be given a lifetime achievement award at the 2016 awards. In 2018 the Sutton Museum mounted an exhibition of Dompierre's work, including a presentation of his composition, "Petit Concerto de Saint-Irénée". In 2019 Dompierre published a biography of his longtime friend and collaborator

Monique Leyrac Monique Leyrac, (26 February 1928 – 15 December 2019) was a Canadian singer and actress who popularized many songs by French-Canadian composers. Early life Leyrac was born Monique Tremblay in Montreal, Quebec.Alexis Luko, Rachelle Taylor an ...

.Mario Girard
"Leyrac vue par Dompierre'
''

La Presse is a French-language online newspaper published daily in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1884, it is now owned by an independent nonprofit trust. ' was formerly a broadsheet daily, considered a newspaper of record in Canada. Its Sunday edi ...

'', April 8, 2019.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dompierre, Francois Members of the Order of Canada 1943 births Canadian film score composers Canadian male singer-songwriters Canadian singer-songwriters Musicians from Gatineau Musicians from Ottawa Writers from Ottawa Writers from Gatineau Franco-Ontarian people Living people Canadian male conductors (music) Best Original Song Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Best Original Score Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners 21st-century Canadian conductors (music) Canadian male film score composers 21st-century Canadian male musicians 21st-century Canadian biographers Canadian non-fiction writers in French 21st-century Canadian male writers Canadian male biographers Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal alumni