Maryvonne Kendergi
Maryvonne Kendergi passed away peacefully on September 27, 2011 in Montreal, at the age of 96 years.
Maryvonne Kendergi was a leading figure in the evolution of musical culture in Quebec. Through her work at Radio-Canada (1956-1990), she established a rich network of exchanges between Quebec composers and many of the great musical figures of the 20th century. She taught Canadian music at the University of Montreal for many years and helped found the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ, 1966) and l’Association pour l’avancement de la recherche en musique du Québec (ARMuQ , 1980), now the Société québécoise de recherche en musique (SQRM), of which she was the first president.
Of Armenian descent, Maryvonne Kendergi was born in 1915 in Aintab, Cilicie (now known as Antep, Turkey), grew up in Syria and later moved to France. She came to Canada in 1952, to Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan, where she worked at the French language radio station CFRG and taught at the local college, before moving to Montreal in 1956.
She was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 1980, and a Chevalier of the Ordre national du Québec and Chevalier of the Ordre des arts et des lettres de la République française in 1985. She was awarded the Canadian Music Council Medal in 1981, the Victor M. Lynch-Staunton Award of the Canada Council in 1983 and the 1985 Prix de musique Calixa-Lavallée. She was elected into the Academy of Great Montrealers in 1988 and to the Royal Society of Canada in 1990.
Maryvonne Kendergi was a leading figure in the evolution of musical culture in Quebec. Through her work at Radio-Canada (1956-1990), she established a rich network of exchanges between Quebec composers and many of the great musical figures of the 20th century. She taught Canadian music at the University of Montreal for many years and helped found the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ, 1966) and l’Association pour l’avancement de la recherche en musique du Québec (ARMuQ , 1980), now the Société québécoise de recherche en musique (SQRM), of which she was the first president.
Of Armenian descent, Maryvonne Kendergi was born in 1915 in Aintab, Cilicie (now known as Antep, Turkey), grew up in Syria and later moved to France. She came to Canada in 1952, to Gravelbourg, Saskatchewan, where she worked at the French language radio station CFRG and taught at the local college, before moving to Montreal in 1956.
She was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 1980, and a Chevalier of the Ordre national du Québec and Chevalier of the Ordre des arts et des lettres de la République française in 1985. She was awarded the Canadian Music Council Medal in 1981, the Victor M. Lynch-Staunton Award of the Canada Council in 1983 and the 1985 Prix de musique Calixa-Lavallée. She was elected into the Academy of Great Montrealers in 1988 and to the Royal Society of Canada in 1990.