Josée Allard
Pianist, improviser, workshop facilitator and founder of Creative Music
From a very young age, she naturally composed her pieces for piano. She then continued her classical training and obtained her bachelor's degree from the University of Montreal in 1993. She distinguished herself in various national competitions, including the Montreal Symphony Orchestra Competition, where she won first prize in 1987. She then gave several concerts, among others at the Montreal International Piano Festival, the Lachine International Festival and the Piano Nobile at Place des Arts. In 1988, she had the honor of performing Mozart's concerto for 3 pianos with the OSM alongside Alain Lefèvre and Charles Dutoit.
Alongside teaching piano for 30 years, she completed a 4-year course in Musicianship and Leadership with Music For People, an organization headed by world-renowned cellist David Darling. In 2010, the beneficial impacts of this training led her to collaborate on the writing of songs which are among the titles of the album of singer-songwriter Nathalie Déry, as well as a solo piano album of meditative improvisations launched in 2020. In addition, three of his compositions for piano appear in the Piano Repertoire of the Vincent-d'Indy School of Music.
She has given improvisation workshops in several institutions in Quebec (Canada) such as the UQAM Preparatory School , the Vincent-d'Indy Music School and Laval University with music teachers and students. Seeing the benefits of this work, she decided to create an online piano improvisation program in order to in turn help pianists transform their relationship with music and their instrument.
Josée Allard is an affiliated professor at the Vincent d'Indy School of Music and a member of the APMQ.
