The Prix d'Europe is a Canadian study grant that is funded by the Ministère des Affaires culturelles du Québec of the Government of Quebec. Established in 1911, the award has been distributed annually to a single individual through competition with the exception of 1960-1973 and 2009 when there was a potential for 2 prizes each year and 1971 when no prize was given. Winners of the grant are given a cash prize towards furthering their musical education abroad in Europe. Past winners of the prize include a large number of notable Canadian musicians.[1]
J.-Arthur Paquet, a Quebecois businessman and organist who was treasurer of the Académie de musique du Québec, was responsible for spearheading the grant's creation in 1911. Paquet gained the support of the academy's board and its secretary, Joseph-Arthur Bernier, and a plan by the school for the project was brought to Quebec premier Sir Lomer Gouin for his personal approval. Gouin supported the project and through his influence the National Assembly of Quebec passed a law promoting the development of musical art on 24 March 1911 which included funding the Prix d'Europe.[1]
The Prix d'Europe initially awarded a cash prize of $3000 in 1911, at that time a very large sum of money. The sum was raised in 1959 ($5000), 1973 ($8000), and (1988). For more than the first 40 years of their history individual participants competed in their respective categories for a single prize. In 1960 two prizes were established: a prize for a keyboardist or vocalist, and a prize for an orchestral instrumentalist or composer. Some years only one prize was given when the judges deemed there was not a suitable winner in a particular category. In 1974 the competition returned to its original state of offering just a single prize. In 2009 two prizes were given.[1]
On two occasions the Prix d'Europe awarded special grants to individuals: in 1924 to violinist Norman Herschorn and in 1926 to pianist Alice Ste-Marie. The 1938 winner of the competition, Marcel Hébert, drowned before he could avail himself of the grant awarded to him. Accordingly, his grant was distributed to two other participants in that year's competition: Noël Brunet and Georges Savaria. No prize was given in 1971 as the judges felt that no applicant had demonstrated a sufficient level of skill to have earned the prize.[1]
1911 Clotilde Coulombe, piano
1912 Léo-Pol Morin, piano
1913 Omer Létourneau, organ
1914 Jean Dansereau, piano
1915 Wilfrid Pelletier, piano
1916 Graziella Dumaine, voice
1917 Germaine Malépart, piano
1918 Jean Kaster, cello
1919 Lucille Dompierre, piano
1920 Ruth Pryce, violin
1921 Auguste Descarries, piano
1922 Anna-Marie Messénie, piano
1923 Conrad Bernier, organ
1924 Gabriel Cusson, cello
1925 Paul Doyon, piano
1926 Lionel Daunais, voice
1927 Rita Savard, piano; Henri Mercure, composition1928 Brahm Sand, cello
1929 Jean-Marie Beaudet, organ
1930 Gilberte Martin, piano
1931 Lucien Martin, violin
1932 Bernard Piché, organ
1933 Edwin Bélanger, violin
1934 Georges Lindsay, organ
1935 Georgette Tremblay, organ
1936 Noël Brunet, violin
1937 Georges Savaria, piano
1938 Marcel Hébert, piano
1939 Paule-Aimée Bailly, piano
1940 Suzette Forgues, cello
1941 Marcelle Martin, organ
1942 Claude Lavoie, organ
1943 Berthe Dorval, piano1944 Jacqueline Lavoy, piano
1945 Claude Létourneau, violin
1946 Jeanne Landry, piano
1947 Lise DesRosiers, piano
1948 Raymond Daveluy, organ
1949 Clermont Pépin, piano
1950 Josephte Dufresne, piano
1951 Anna-Marie Globenski, piano
1952 Janine Lachance, piano
1953 Kenneth Gilbert, organ
1954 Monik Grenier, piano
1955 Léon Bernier, piano
1956 Monique Munger, piano
1957 Jean Leduc, organ
1958 Lise Boucher, piano
1959 Rachel Martel, piano
1960 Jacqueline Martel, voice; Gisèle Daoust, piano
1961 Jacques Hétu, composition; Pierre Ménard, violin
1962 Colette Boky, voice; John McKay, piano
1963 Cécile Lanneville, cello; André Prévost, composition
1964 Claude Ouellet, voice; Claude Savard, piano
1965 Alain Gagnon, composition
1966 Monique Gendron, organ; Bruno Laplante, voice1967 Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux, composition; Jacques Larocque, saxophone
1968 Roland Richard, voice; Lucie Madden, organ
1969 Louise LeComte, recorder
1970 John Whitelaw, harpsichord
1971 not awarded
1972 Marie Laferrière, voice; Karen Quinton, piano
1973 Raynald Arseneault, composition; Marcel Saint-Jacques, flute
1974 Jacinthe Couture, piano
1975 Denis Bédard, harpsichord
1976 Robert Langevin, flute
1977 Michel Franck, piano
1978 Gilles Carpentier, clarinet
1979 Chantal Juillet, violin
1980 Marie-Danielle Parent, voice
1981 Jacques Després, piano
1982 Johanne Perron, cello
1983 Sophie Rolland, cello
1984 Violaine Melançon, violin
1985 Éric Trudel, piano
1986 Jean Saulnier, piano
1987 Philippe Magnan, oboe1988 Brigitte Rolland, violin
1989 Claude Labelle, piano
1990 Marie-Claude Bilodeau, piano
1991 Stéphane Rancourt, oboe
1992 Guylaine Flamand, piano
1993 Pascale Giguère, violin
1994 Mark Freiheit, piano
1995 Stéphan Sylvestre, piano
1996 Frédéric Bednarz, violin
1997 Olivier Thouin, violin
1998 Mariane Patenaude, piano
1999 Benoit Loiselle, cello
2000 Catherine Meunier, percussion
2001 Manelli Pirzadeh, piano2002 Vincent Boucher, organ
2003 Wonny Song, piano
2004 Anne-Julie Caron, percussion
2005 Jocelyne Roy, flute
2006 Jean-Sébastien Roy, violin
2007 Caroline Chéhadé, violin
2008 Valérie Milot, harp
2009 Marie-Eve Poupart, violin and Maxime McKinley, composition
2010 Tristan Longval-Gagné, piano
2011 Charles Richard-Hamelin, piano and Gabriel Dharmoo, composition
2012 Victor Fournelle-Blain, violin
2013 Ariane Brisson, flute
2014 Bénédicte Lauzière, violin
2015 Xiaoyu Liu, piano
2016 David Dias da Silva, clarinet
2017 Felix Hong, piano