Mathieu Duguay

Mathieu Duguay is a Canadian musician and teacher from New Brunswick. He founded the Lamèque International Festival of Baroque Music in 1976 and served as its artistic director until 2000.

Education and early life

Duguay was born in Lamèque in 1937. He started taking piano lessons at the age of nine and at the age of ten he began playing the organ for church services. After attending the Collège de Bathurst and the New Brunswick Teachers' College, he taught school for two years before beginning studies at the École de musique Vincent-d'Indy in Montreal, where he studied organ, piano and harpsichord performance. He also studied at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal. After finishing his studies, Duguay taught and performed in Montreal and in Toronto, where he lived from 1972 to 1974. He played harpsichord, the instrument in which he specialized, with the New Chamber Orchestra. In 1975 Dugay returned to live in Lamèque. At the first festival Duguay and flautist François Codère performed J.S. Bach's complete sonatas for flute and harpsichord and gave master classes.

Honours

Lieutenant-Governor's Excellence Award for community cultural development (1993) Honorary doctorate in Music, Université de Moncton (1993) Member of the Order of Canada (1994) Chevalier of the Order of La Pléiade (2000) Member of the Order of New Brunswick (2003) Honorary Doctor of Letters, University of New Brunswick (2012)