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Denys Bouliane

Academic title(s): 

Associate Professor (Sabbatical leave, Fall '22/Winter '23)

Denys Bouliane
Department: 
Music Research
Area(s): 
Music Composition
Contact Information
Phone: 
514-398-4535
Email address: 
denys.bouliane [at] mcgill.ca
Group: 
Faculty
Biography: 

Denys Bouliane was born in 1955 in Grand-M猫re, a small town in the Province of Quebec. His first musical experiences occurred in the 1960s playing guitar in an amateur rock band. After studies in a liberal arts college he began his first musical training in 1972 at Laval University (Quebec City) where he studied piano and violin and completed a Master鈥檚 degree in composition in 1979. With grants from both the Quebec and Canadian governments he first attended in 1980 the Darmstadt Summer Courses, settled down in Cologne and then continued his studies with Gy枚rgy Ligeti at the Hochshule f眉r Musik in Hamburg from 1980 to 1985. He has lived primarily in Cologne between 1980 and 1991 and has shared his time between Montr茅al and Cologne from 1991 to 2008. He now lives in the village of Carignan on the Richelieu River.

Bouliane is considered one of the most prominent Canadian composers; since three decades his music has received much international attention in festivals like ISCM (International Society for Contemporary Music), Musik der Zeit K枚ln, Musik der Zeit Stuttgart, Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Pro Musica Nova Bremen, Frankfurt Alte Oper, Wittener Tage f眉r Neue Musik, Darmstadt, A*Devantgarde in Munich, Tage f眉r Neue Musik Z眉rich, Wien Incident in Jazz, Salzburg stART Festival, Gaudeamus MusikWeek, Holland Festival, Ars Musica Brussels, Rencontres internationales de Metz, 鈥38猫 Rugissants鈥 in Grenoble, Musiques en sc猫ne Lyon, Royaumont Voix Nouvelles, 脡bruitez-vous (Rennes), Radio-France Pr茅sences, Manca (Nice), Canterbury Festival, London South Bank and Music of Today, San Francisco Wet Ink, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Telluride Colorado, Qu茅bec Musiques-au-pr茅sent, MNM (Montr茅al/Nouvelles Musiques) international Festival, Toronto Massey Hall Festival, Toronto Encounters, Winnipeg New Music Festival, Ekatarinenburg Music Festival, a o.

His works have been regularly broadcast in North America and throughout Europe, commissioned and performed by such Canadian ensembles as NEM (Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, Montr茅al), SMCQ (Soci茅t茅 de musique contemporaine du Qu茅bec), the the Fibonacci Trio and the Bozzini Quartet, New Music Concerts, Soundstream, by European ensembles such as Ensemble K枚ln, Ensemble Modern, MusikFabrik, the Stuttgart Windquintet, the Calamus Quintet, Contrasts (Germany), the Delta Ensemble and the Nederlands Blazers Ensemble (Amsterdam), the London Sinfonietta, the Nash Ensemble, Lontano, Continuum and BCMG (UK), l鈥橧tin茅raire, Court-Circuit (Paris), Icarus (Italy), Meitar (Isra毛l), orchestras like l鈥橭rchestre symphonique de Montr茅al, l鈥橭rchestre symphonique de Qu茅bec, l鈥橭rchestre M茅tropolitain, the Toronto Symphony, Esprit Orchestra, the Winnipeg Symphony, the National Arts Center Orchestra (Ottawa), the Philharmonia Orchestra (London), the Heidelberg Philarmonisches Orchester, the Bochumer Symphoniker, the WDR Sinfonieorchester, the Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, a.o.

Bouliane has been Composer-in-Residence at the West German Radio (WDR) in 1990-91, at the Orchestre symphonique de Qu茅bec from 1992 to 1995, at the Heidelberg Philharmonisches Orchester in Germany in 1996-96 and at the National Arts Center Orchestra in Ottawa between 2004 and 2007.

He has been equally very active as a pedagogue, conductor and new music organizer in Canada and abroad.

Since 1995 he has been Professor of composition at 看片视频 University and between 1996-2010 Music Director of the 看片视频 Contemporary Music Ensemble. He has been regularly guest lecturer at several universities, conservatories and international festivals, as well as a contributor to radio programs and specialized periodicals in America and Europe. He has been guest to the Darmst盲dter Ferienkurse, the K枚lner Hochschule f眉r Musik, the Hochschule f眉r Musik in Stuttgart, the Musikkonservatorium in Z眉rich, the Royal College of Music in London, the Trinity College of Music, the Moscow Conservatory, the University of Toronto, the Universit茅 de Montr茅al, the Escuela Superior de Musica (CENART) and the Conservatorio Nacional de Musica in Mexico, the Northwestern University, the Levine School of Music in Washington, the Peabody Conservatory and the Manhattan School of Music.

As a conductor, he has worked with the Ensemble Modern, MusikFabrik, S茅rie B (Germany) Court-Circuit (France), the CAPUT Ensemble (Iceland), New Music Concerts, Soundstream, Esprit Orchestra (Toronto), the 看片视频 CME, the Orchestre symphonique de Qu茅bec (OSQ), the Orchestre symphonique de Montr茅al and the National Arts Center Orchestra in Ottawa. He is has been regular Conductor in the 1990s of the Ensemble XXe si猫cle of the OSQ (of which he is the initiator) as well as a Special Counselor to the orchestra.

He is has been Artistic Director of the MusiOctober, MusiNovember and the high profile MusiMarch Festivals from 1999 to 2010 (看片视频 University with several partners, among them Orchestre symphonique de Montr茅al) and has been co-Artistic Director with Walter Boudreau of the biennale Montr茅al/Nouvelles Musiques from 2003 to 2007. During the late 1970s he was Program Director of l鈥橝ssociation de musique actuelle de Qu茅bec and between 1990 and 1993 on the board of directors of the KGNM (K枚lner Gesellschaft f眉r Neue Musik鈥擟ologne new music society鈥). In the 1980鈥檚 he has toured Europe extensively as Sound Regisseur for Ensemble K枚ln. In 1991, Bouliane has founded the group S茅rie B, a Cologne-based ensemble of 9 musicians who extend the acoustic potential of their resources through an array of new electronic instruments. He was co-Artistic Coordinator and Principal Conductor of the music festival 蚕耻茅产别肠-惭耻蝉颈辩耻别蝉-补耻-辫谤茅蝉别苍迟 held in the spring of 1998, 1999 and 2000. He has also been co-Artistic Director of the Millennium Symphony, a large-scale work for 19 composers and 350 performers premiered at Oratoire St-Joseph in Montreal on June 3, 2000. Since 1995 he is co-Artistic Director with Lorraine Vaillancourt (Nouvel Ensemble Moderne) of the Rencontres de Musique Nouvelle (New Music Symposium).

Bouliane has also worked in close collaboration with Director Denis Marleau and written stage music for B眉chner鈥檚 Woyzeck (Belgium鈥檚 Th茅芒tre National and Centre dramatique Hainnuyer, 1993) as well as for Wedekind鈥檚 Lulu (Th茅芒tre du Nouveau Monde, in Montreal, 1995-96).

Many of Bouliane鈥檚 works have been awarded prizes in national and international competitions (Prizes from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and from the Gaudeamus Foundation in Holland in 1982 for Jeux de Soci茅t茅, Prize of the Performing Rights Organization of Canada, for Douze tiroirs de demi-v茅rit茅s pour all茅ger votre descente, among others). He was named composer of the year by the Canadian Music Council in 1983 and in 1987 was awarded the L茅ger Governor General鈥檚 Chamber Music Prize for A propos... et le Baron perch茅?. In 1985 the City of Cologne awarded him the 鈥淔枚rderpreis f眉r Musik鈥 and in 1989 Le cactus rieur et la demoiselle qui souffrait d'une soif insatiable won the orchestral prize of the international 鈥淔orum junger Komponisten鈥 of the West German Radio (WDR). In 1991 he was the first composer given the Serge Garant Award of the Nelligan Foundation in Montreal for his musical achievements. In December 1999, he received the Opus Prize 鈥淢usical Personality of the year鈥 awarded by the Quebec Music Council as well as a collection of many others since, putting forward his activities as organizer and promoter: 鈥淢usical Event of the year鈥 for the Millenium Symphony in 2000, 鈥淎rtistic Director of the year鈥 and again 鈥淢usical Event of the year鈥 for Montr茅al/Nouvelles Musiques in 2003.

Bouliane鈥檚 original stylistical approach, described by German musicologist Peter Niklas Wilson as the Music of Magic Realism, is akin to a virtuoso game of criticism bordering on stylistical mystification, following in the footsteps of Jorge-Luis Borges, Italo Calvino and Boris Vian. A subject of controversy in so-called avant-garde milieus, his music seems to lie at the crossroads between America and Europe, and at the center of debates on modernity and postmodernity. Bouliane is one of the Quebec composers to have most deeply reflected on and questioned his cultural heritage. Trained in Europe in Ligeti鈥檚 class, he remains however highly aware of his North-American roots, accepted for their spontaneity as well as their paradoxes. Without ever quoting anything, his music represents what he considers an 鈥渁ttitude鈥 towards the sound world and the musical language. In this respect, one could find a filiation with Charles Ives.

He has embarked since the beginning of the 2000s in the composition of a large cycle entitled Gamache, the Saga of the Anticostians, proposing a quasi-mythical vision of an imaginary North-America's hidden history, at the crossroads of aboriginal and european cultures, based on the life and deeds of Louis Olivier Gamache, Anticosti island's lord and sorcerer, his ancestors and descendants. Until now four ensemble and orchestral pieces are already part of the cycle, which will develop in a series of operas.

Selected publications: 

Denys Bouliane, Works and Documentation

Denys Bouliane, oeuvres et documentation

听(use the *Links provided)

听(utiliser les *Liens fournis)

FOLDERS /听DOSSIERS

1) D Bouliane DOCUMENTATION

听听 CONTENT: Biographical Material, Bibliography, Publications, Teaching.

听听 CONTENU: Mat茅riel biographique, bibliographie, publications, enseignement.

*LINK /听LIEN听(copy and paste in Browser /听copier-coller dans le fureteur):

2) D Bouliane Complete SCORES and RECORDINGS

听听 CONTENT: Large selection of full scores (pdf) with full mp3 recordings).

听听 CONTENU: Choix de plusieurs partitions compl猫tes (pdf) avec enregistrements complets.

*LINK /听LIEN听(copy and paste in Browser /听copier-coller dans le fureteur):

3) D Bouliane WORKCATALOG with excerpts

听听 CONTENT: Comprehensive WorkCatalog with score excerpts and linked mp3 recordings.

听听 CONTENU: Catalogue raisonn茅 des oeuvres avec extraits de partitions et enregistrements mp3 li茅s.

*LINK /听LIEN听(copy and paste in Browser /听copier-coller dans le fureteur):

PROCEDURE /听MARCHE 脌 SUIVRE:

a) Download <Catal_Bouli2012_Acrobat5.pdf> on your hard drive

听 听 T茅l茅charger听 <Catal_Bouli2012_Acrobat5.pdf> sur votre disque dur

b) Download all mp3s on your hard drive and place them听in the same folder听to make all mp3 links functional

听听 T茅l茅charger tous les mp3s sur votre disque dur et les placer听dans le m锚me dossier听pour assurer les liens mp3

c) Open <Catal_Bouli2012_Acrobat5.pdf> with Adobe Acrobat

听 听 Ouvrir <Catal_Bouli2012_Acrobat5.pdf> avec Adobe Acrobat

4) D Bouliane Works ANALYSIS

听听 CONTENT: Analytical articles, General Material, Score Analysis (Qualia sui, Rumore sui).

听听 CONTENU: Articles d'analyse, mat茅riel g茅n茅ral, analyse de partitions (Qualia sui, Rumore sui).

*LINK /听LIEN听(copy and paste in Browser /听copier-coller dans le fureteur):

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