Instrument: Trumpet
Upon having attended Frédéric Demers’s concerts, everyone agrees that this musician may surely be considered as one of the best trumpet and cornet players to be born in Canada in generations. Currently, Frédéric is teaching at the Val-d’Or Conservatory, in Canada’s Northern Quebec, as well as at Montreal’s Regina Assumpta College. In addition, this strong-willed and technically flamboyant young virtuoso is in great demand as an orchestral soloist. Since 2009, he has been invited to play with some one dozen Canadian symphonic and major wind ensembles.
Frédéric Demers also happens to be one of those musicians for whom chamber music is a passion. To that effect, he is a founding member of the IMPACT Brass Quintet since 1994. More recently, namely in 2007, he also joined the very dynamic Magnitude6, which has given itself the mission of making the general public better acquainted and appreciative of new and avant-garde music that, more and more, is being written for brass ensembles.
Frédéric obtained his Doctor’s degree in Cornet Performance at the Université de Montréal with great distinction. He has studied trumpet with renowned soloists and teachers from around the world: Alan Vizzutti, Antoine Curé, Bruno Nouvion, Guy Few, James Thompson, Jean-Louis Chatel, Jens Lindemann, John Wallace, Manon Lafrance, Paul Merkelo, Raymond Mase, Serge Chevanel and Thomas Stevens. In regard to the cornet, of which he is particularly fond, his principal masters have been Jean-Louis Chatel and Pierre Gillet. Lastly, in respect to chamber music, the masters under which he studied are tubist Alain Cazes and trombonist Alain Trudel.
Frédéric Demers very much enjoys the contact he can establish with children by means of music. He can thus pass on strong emotions, different from what movies, television or video games can bring them. In 2006, he created a multimedia show that features eight or more different types of trumpets. Since 2007, with the collaboration of Jeunesses Musicales du Canada, Mr. Demers performed a one-man-show called Fred Piston and his 7 Trumpets over 300 times for about 35,000 youths aged between 3 to 12.
Stemming from a family in which classical music has always been present, Frédéric Demers has nonetheless also taken an interest in jazz for over 20 years. This versatility has been following him throughout his career’s progression, which explains why he can be heard improvising as much on disc as in concert.