Yvonne Hubert

Hubert was born in Mouscron, Belgium in 1895. She began her musical studies at the Conservatory of Lille, where she won the first prize for piano in 1906. Her remarkable talent attracted the attention of Alfred Cortot, André Gedalge and Gabriel Fauré. She enrolled at the Paris Conservatoire in 1906, first studying piano with Marguerite Long and later in 1908, with Alfred Cortot. She also studied chamber music with Camille Chevillard and theory with Maurice Emmanuel. She won first prize for piano at the Paris Conservatoire in 1911.

Under the tutelage of Fauré, who entrusted her with the first performances of several of his works, she began a career as a soloist and chamber musician in France, Belgium, Canada and the United States, and also accompanied her brother, cellist Marcel Hubert.

In 1926, she moved to Montreal and in 1929 and founded the Alfred Cortot School of Piano, to promote the French tradition, and in particular the method of Cortot.

From 1945 to 1970 she taught at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal. She also taught at the École de musique Vincent d'Indy from 1952 to 1979.

Her students, many of whom have won national and international competitions, included: Henri Brassard, André Laplante, Michel Dussault, Marc Durand, Janina Fialkowska, Lorraine Prieur, William Tritt, Louis Lortie, Marc-André Hamelin, Claude Labelle, Gérald Lévesque, Kenneth Gilbert, Suzanne Blondin, Suzanne Goyette, Serge Garant, Gilles Manny and Ronald Turini.

• 1979 - Medal of the Canadian Music Council
• 1979 - Honorary Diploma of the Canadian Conference of the Arts
• 1981 - Honorary LLD from Concordia University, Montreal
• 1987 - Price Calixa-Lavallée
• 1989 - The Place des Arts named its largest rehearsal room in her honour.