{"id":8089,"date":"2017-10-17T14:30:19","date_gmt":"2017-10-17T21:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/?p=8089"},"modified":"2017-10-19T14:31:32","modified_gmt":"2017-10-19T21:31:32","slug":"montreal-has-been-a-vital-classical-guitar-center-for-more-than-50-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/classicalguitarmagazine.com\/montreal-has-been-a-vital-classical-guitar-center-for-more-than-50-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Montreal Has Been a Vital Classical-Guitar Center for More Than 50 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"
From the Fall 2017 issue of Classical Guitar<\/em> | BY ANTOINE BERTHIAUME<\/h6>\n

Montreal is rightly known for its many beautiful historic buildings, authentic French character, ice hockey, indie-rock bands, bagels, and even its smoked meats\u2014but much less so for its classical guitar scene. Yet, through the years this vital Canadian city has developed some amazing local guitar players and composers, attracted devoted teachers and visiting legends, and nurtured a large and enthusiastic audience with a taste for virtuosos, thus inciting more and more youngsters to pick up the instrument. Classical Guitar <\/i>asked me to profile a few of the major figures in Montreal\u2019s classical guitar community.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Peter<\/p>\n

Peter McCutcheon<\/strong>
\n<\/span>Peter McCutcheon and I chat in his office at the University of Montreal, where we talk about his career and the history of guitar in the city. After studying in the city for six years with Florence Brown in the 1960s, he further pursued his learning at the University with Marie and Martin Pr\u00e9vel from \u201969 to \u201972. \u201cThey were among the pioneers of the classical guitar in Montreal,\u201d he comments.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, one of the defining moments of his career was his meeting with the great French guitarist and composer Alexandre Lagoya, who was a regular at the Orford Arts Center (OAF), just outside Montreal. \u201cLagoya was, without a doubt, the most influential figure of the Montreal picture in the \u201970s,\u201d says McCutcheon. Lagoya and Ida Presti\u2014the revered married couple\u2014toured the world giving as many as 2,000 concerts through the \u201960s, before Presti\u2019s death in 1967. The two were prominent proponents of the right-hand technique called attaque \u00e0 droite<\/i>, the 90-degree position used by Andr\u00e9s Segovia and Francisco T\u00e1rrega, among many others. Most players here adopted the technique, and in the process, \u201cMontreal became the bastion of the \u2018\u00e9cole fran\u00e7aise<\/i>,\u2019\u201d recalls McCutcheon.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLagoya was a great friend of Gilles Lefebvre\u2014director of the OAF and the Jeunesses Musicales Canada Foundation\u2014who had close ties with the Qu\u00e9bec Minister of Education. They were greatly responsible for creating a momentum in the community of guitarists, thus encouraging institutions to open up positions for guitar teachers in universities and conservatories around the province.\u201d In 1975, McCutcheon, just back from Paris, where he was crowned \u201cpremier prix<\/i>\u201d at the Conservatoire national sup\u00e9rieur, fit the profile of prospective teachers perfectly and seized the opportunity. He started teaching at McGill University, and eventually accepted a full-time position at the University of Montreal, where he has been teaching students from all around the globe ever since. <\/span><\/p>\n

For McCutcheon, \u201cThe second wave that shook the community of players was the coming of Scottish guitarist David Russell and Cuban player Manuel Barrueco, who made yearly visits to the OAF between 1985 and 1995.\u201d Like most players, McCutcheon was fascinated by those guitarists\u2019 technique, and eventually their influence caused many local players to abandon the attaque <\/i>\u00e0 droite<\/i> to adopt a more natural hand-position. At the Orford Center, \u201canybody who was serious about the guitar would attend their concerts and try to get a lesson with one of them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

These days, in addition to teaching at the university, McCutcheon is the president of the Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 de Guitare de Montr\u00e9al, devoted to promoting concerts and master classes in the city. Founded in 1995, the Soci\u00e9t\u00e9, hosted Renaud C\u00f4t\u00e9-Gigu\u00e8re (one of McCutcheon\u2019s many notable prot\u00e9g\u00e9s) in March, and in April Barrueco returned to Montreal to give a recital and teach a master class.<\/span><\/p>\n

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