Kenneth Gilbert

Kenneth Gilbert studied at Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal. Training under Nadia Boulanger is recorded. Paola Erdas, William Christie and Dominique Ferran are recorded as having studied under Kenneth Gilbert. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is music, musicology and organist. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are classical music. Employment is recorded with Royal Academy of Music, Royal Conservatory of Antwerp and Laval University. Distinctions recorded are Officer of the Order of Canada, Officer of Arts and Letters, honorary doctorate at the Laval University and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

• Name — Kenneth Gilbert • Honorific Suffix — FRSC • Born — 16 December 1931 • Birthplace — Montreal, Quebec, Canada • Died — 15 April 2020 • Instrument — Harpsichord, organ • Genre — Baroque music,...

Born in Montreal, Gilbert studied at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal under Yvonne Hubert (piano) and Gabriel Cusson (harmony and counterpoint). He also studied the organ with Conrad Letendre in Montréal. In 1953 he won the Prix d'Europe for organ performance, an award which enabled him to pursue studies in Paris with Nadia Boulanger (composition), Maurice Duruflé (organ), Ruggero Gerlin (harpsichord), Gaston Litaize (organ), and Sylvie Spicket (harpsichord) from 1953 to 1955. He later studied the harpsichord privately under Wanda Landowska. Gilbert made his first recordings with the Canadian label Baroque Records Co. of Canada Ltd. in 1962 – an all-J. S. Bach program, followed by several more solo harpsichord recordings of music by Bach, another of Rameau, and several chamber music albums with other Canadian artists: Mario Duschenes (flute & recorder), Steven Staryk (violin), Jacques Simard (oboe), as well as French flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal. As organist, he recorded an album of works by Boehm, Buxtehude and Walther on two Casavant-built instruments in Quebec. (All of these recordings were subsequently reissued on Orion Master Recordings in the U.S.) In 1983 he recorded a two-CD selection from the Montreal Organ Book on the Hellmuth Wolff organ at McGill University for the Canadian label Analekta. Gilbert performed for the Peabody Mason concert series in 1974. He died on April 15, 2020, at the age of 88.

Kenneth Gilbert is recorded as having received Officer of the Order of Canada, Officer of Arts and Letters and honorary doctorate at the Laval University.