(b. 1946, Longueuil, Québec).
Canadian composer of mostly stage, chamber and electroacoustic works that have been performed throughout the world.
Prof. Daoust studied piano privately with Alice Vigeant as a child and later studied analysis and composition with Gilles Tremblay and piano with Irving Heller at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal from 1966–71. He studied techniques of film music with Maurice Blackburn and Norman McLaren at the Office national du film du Canada in Montréal in 1971 and finished his studies with Alain Savouret and other composers at the Institut International de Musique Électroacoustique de Bourges from 1974–76.
Among his honours are the Euphonie d'Or in the Concours International de Musique Électroacoustique de Bourges (1992, for Quatuor), the Prix Serge-Garant from the Fondation Émile-Nelligan in Montréal (2009) and the Prix Opus for Création de l'année from the Conseil québécois de la musique in Montréal (2010, for Chorals ornés).
He is also active in other positions. He worked as an audio engineer for the Office national du film du Canada from 1976–79. He co-founded the Association pour la création et la recherche électroacoustique du Québec (ACREQ) in 1978 and served as its director from 1982–86 and 1988–91. He later co-developed with Alexandre Burton the mobile app Fonofone in 2017.
He has taught at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal since 1979, where he is now Professeur de Composition Électroacoustique and chair of the department of electroacoustic composition, which he founded.
COMPLETE LIST OF WORKS
STAGE:
Carnaval (interdisciplinary event), mime group, fixed media, 1983–84 (collaboration with Mimes Omnibus; also concert version for fixed media)
Variations sur un air d'accordéon, mime (+ accordion), fixed media, 1987
Trip Tympan (musical show for young people), live electronics, 1993–94
Planète Baobab (musical show for young people), orchestra, live electronics, 1999 (collaboration with Denis Gougeon)
Alice (musical show for young people), orchestra, live electronics, 2002–03 (collaboration with Denis Gougeon)
ORCHESTRAL:
Trois-fois-quatre, 14 strings, 1972–73
CHAMBER MUSIC:
Valse, flute (+ piccolo), clarinet (+ E-flat clarinet), alto saxophone (+ tenor saxophone), tenor saxophone (+ baritone saxophone), B-flat trumpet, violin, piano (+ synthesizer), electronic organ (+ synthesizer), amplified harpsichord, metronome (operated by conductor), fixed media, 1980
Petite musique sentimentale, piano, fixed media, 1984
Adagio, flute, fixed media, 1985–86
L'Entrevue, accordion, fixed media, 1989–90
Impromptu, piano, synthesizer (+ sampler), fixed media, 1995 (longer version of work for fixed media)
Solo, French horn, 2003
ORGAN:
Chorals ornés, organ, fixed media, 2007–09
ELECTROACOUSTIC:
Paris, les Grands-Magasins, fixed media, 1975
Tout l'monde est d'bonne humeur, fixed media, 1978
Quatuor, fixed media, 1979
La Gamme, fixed media, 1980
La Visite, fixed media, 1985
Mi bémol, fixed media, 1986
Il était une fois, fixed media, 1986–87
Carnaval, fixed media, 1988 (concert version of stage work)
Suite baroque, fixed media, 1988
Ouverture, fixed media, 1989
Résonances, fixed media, 1992
Impromptu, fixed media, 1994 (also longer version for piano, synthesizer [+ sampler], fixed media)
Bruits, fixed media, 1997–2001 (its three sections may be performed separately: Children's Corner, 1997–98; Nuit, 1999; Fête, 2001)
Objets trouvés, fixed media, 2002
Le Temps fixé, fixed media, 2003–04
About Time, fixed media, 2005
RADIO PRODUCTIONS:
Maurice Blackburn : portrait d'un méconnu, fixed media, 1982, revised 1995
Fantaisie, fixed media, 1986
Water Music, fixed media, 1991
DISCOGRAPHY
Quatuor. (UNESCO/CIME: LDC 278 043, 1985)
Adagio. (Radio Canada International: ACM-37, 1990)
Mi bémol. (empreintes DIGITALes: IMED 9004, 1990 [reissued as empreintes DIGITALes: IMED 9604, 1996])
Mi bémol. (Ear Magazine: 1, 1991)
Suite baroque; Petite musique sentimentale; Adagio; L'Entrevue; Quatuor. Lise Daoust, flute; Jacques Drouin, piano; Joseph Petric, accordion (empreintes DIGITALes: IMED 9106, 1991)
Maurice Blackburn : portrait d'un méconnu. (Analekta: AN 7005/06, 1996)
Impromptu (original version); Il était une fois; Mi bémol; Résonances; Water Music; Fantaisie. (empreintes DIGITALes: IMED 9843, 1998)
Il était une fois. (IMEB/Opus 30, 2000)
Bruits; Impromptu (longer version); La Gamme; Ouverture. Jacques Drouin, piano; Lorraine Vaillancourt, synthesizer, sampler (empreintes DIGITALes: IMED 0156, 2001)
About Time; Objets trouvés; Le Temps fixé; Chorals ornés. Régis Rousseau, organ (empreintes DIGITALes: IMED 11113, 2011)