Jean-Marie Beaudet

He had a long career with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, serving variously as a music producer, programing director, conductor, and administrator.

With the CBC Symphony Orchestra he conducted the premiere recordings of works by many Canadian composers, including pieces by Maurice Blackburn, Claude Champagne, J.-J.

He studied with Pierre Lucas at the American Conservatory at Fontainebleau and with Louis Aubert (harmony), Marcel Dupré (organ), and Yves Nat (piano) at the Conservatoire de Paris.

[1] In 1932 Beaudet returned to Canada to assume the post of organist at the Église Saint-Dominique in Quebec City and to join the music faculty at the Université Laval.

Between 1935 and 1937 he made several appearances with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra (MSO) under conductor Wilfrid Pelletier, including performances of Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.

He played an influential role in making music the primary focus of CBC programing, as opposed to news, drama, and talk radio.

[1] Beaudet also conducted numerous broadcasts for CBC Radio between 1936 and 1946, including performances of Hector Berlioz's L'enfance du Christ, Gabriel Fauré's Requiem, and Arthur Honegger's Le roi David among other important works.

He was also active as an accompanist throughout Canada during those years, playing in recitals given by Raoul Jobin, Marjorie Lawrence, Ezio Pinza, Georges Thill, and Ninon Vallin among others.

[1] Beaudet was the executive secretary of the Canadian Music Centre from 1959 to 1961, after which he worked for the last time at the CBC as the assistant vice-president in charge of programming from 1961 to 1964.