Instrument: Saxophone
Saxophonist Mathieu Gaulin won the prize for best performance of a Canadian work at the Montreal Symphony Standard Life Competition in 1999 and in 2002. Three times he has won grants from the Amis de l’Art Foundation – in 1999, 2000 and 2001. He has also been a national finalist several times in the Canadian Music Competition, and has won four first prizes in the Festival des harmonies du Québec and two first prizes in the Baie-Saint-Paul Saxophone Competition. In recognition of his exceptional merit, the Fonds FCAR gave him a research grant to continue his studies at the Master’s level at the Université de Montréal’s Faculty of Music.
Mathieu Gaulin is a member of Montreal’s KORE Ensemble and a founding member of the Nota Bene Saxophone Quartet. Since 1997, he has been playing as a duo with pianist Jacynthe Riverin, specializing in twentieth-century music. They have recorded two programs for broadcast on Radio-Canada’s Young Artists program and, in the fall of 2005, they took part in performances at the Festival de musique émergente in Abitibi-Témiscamingue.
While at university, Mr. Gaulin studied with Jean-François Guay. In addition, he has learned from renowned saxophonists like Jean-Marie Londeix, Jean-Michel Goury, Daniel Gordon, Rémi Ménard, and Claude Delangle. He is well-known on the local scene, and plays regularly with the Nouvel ensemble moderne (NEM), the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec (SMCQ), and the Ensemble contemporain de Montreal (ECM). At the last Congrès mondial de saxophone (July 2000), Mathieu performed and recorded Hiroyuki Yamamoto’s Noli me tangere with ECM. The recording on the Fontec label was also distributed in Japan.
In addition to his work as a performer, Mathieu Gaulin teaches saxophone in the music department of the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and at College Regina Assumpta.