Conductor, pianist, administrator, over his long career Wilfrid Pelletier was the dominant figure in the establishment of a structured musical life in Quebec. Born in Montreal in 1896, he studied music in Montreal and France. After winning the Prix d’Europe in 1915, he studied in Paris until hostilities in Europe led him to move to New York in 1917. There he became associated with the Metropolitan Opera, eventually becoming one of its regular conductors; a position he held until 1950. He retained his interest in music at home in Montreal, however, and through the 1930s and 1940s was involved in the creation of the concert series and festivals. He was also the first artistic director of the orchestra of the Société des concerts symphoniques de Montréal, a predecessor of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and the founding director of the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec. Through the 1950s and 1960s, devoted himself to expanding the range of serious music in Quebec, especially in music education. As a conductor he left an important body of recordings, especially opera, but his greater legacy has been the setting of the highest professional standards for music in Canada, and the creation of the tools to attain them. A 2-volume homage recording containing selections of his work was released on the Fonovox label on the 100th anniversary of his birth in 1996.

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