The CMQT was originally located on Laviolette St, but in 1970 the school moved to better facilities in the building of the Centre culturel and the former École Ste-Marie.

[1] The CMQT was originally a pre-college preparatory school which was established by Kaczynski in 1964, opening for its first day of classes on 1 April 1964.

[1] Originally the CMQT only offered instruction in instrumental music, with Jean Deslauriers serving as the school's first orchestra director.

Some of the teaching staff appointed to the school during the 1970s included clarinetist Jean Laurendeau, horn player Joseph Masella, oboist Bernard Jean; organist Noëlla Genest; pianists Michel Dussault, Christiane Sénart, Nadia Strycek, and Denise Trudel-Bellemare; saxophonist Jacques Larocque; and trombonist Joseph Zuskin.

[1] More recent directors of the CMQT include Georges Savaria (1979–1980), Roger Bédard (1980–1982), Jean Charron (1982–1986), Michel Kozlovsky (1986–1991), and Pierre Normandin (1991–2009).