Yvonne Hubert

Yvonne Hubert, Pianist, teacher, born in Mouscron, Belgium, on 28 May 1895, died in Montreal, Canada, on 8 June 1988. Premier Prix piano (Lille Conservatoire) 1906, Premier Prix piano (Paris Conservatoire) 1911, Honorary LLD (Concordia University) 1981.

Yvonne Hubert started her musical studies at the Lille Conservatoire. Her remarkable talent was noticed by Alfred Cortot, André Gédalge and Gabriel Fauré, and she enrolled at the Paris Conservatoire in 1906, first studying piano with Marguerite Long and then, in 1908, with Cortot. She also studied chamber music with Camille Chevillard and theory with Maurice Emmanuel. Under the guidance of Fauré, who entrusted her with the performance of several of his works, she undertook a career in France, Belgium, Canada and the USA, as soloist, chamber player, and accompanist to her brother, cellist Marcel Hubert.

She settled in Montreal in 1926 and founded the Alfred Cortot Piano School in 1929 to promulgate the French tradition, and Cortot’s method in particular. From 1945 to 1970, she taught at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montreal, where her students included Suzanne Blondin, Serge Garant, Gilles Manny and Ronald Turini. She also taught at the École Vincent-d’Indy from 1952 to 1979. Several of the pianists she trained won national and international competitions: Henri Brassard, André Laplante, Marc Durand, Janina Fialkowska, William Tritt, Louis Lortie, Marc-André Hamelin, Claude Labelle and others. Considered one of the most distinguished teachers in Canada, Yvonne Hubert’s strong personality, her drive and the outstanding quality of her teaching profoundly influenced her students and enriched musical life in Montreal and Canada. She was awarded the Canadian Music Council Medal and a Diplôme d’honneur by the Canadian Conference for the Arts in 1979, and also received the 1987 Prix de musique Calixa-Lavallée. The Place des Arts honoured her in 1989 by naming its largest rehearsal hall after her.

References

Information assembled from the "Encyclopedia of Music in Canada", (second edition) edited by Helmut Kallmann, Gilles Potvin and Kenneth Winters. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992.