A highly sought-after performer on the Canadian music scene, Jean-François Normand is an Alumni of the Juilliard School and is currently professor at the Conservatoire de Musique de Montréal, McGill University, and a member of the Orford Music Academy faculty. His students have won numerous competitions including the “Stepping Stone” of the Canadian Music Competition, the OSM Competition, and the Grand Prize of the Prix d’Europe.

Mr. Normand has appeared as a soloist with several orchestras including the Montreal, Laval, Sherbrooke, Quebec, Toronto, and Texarkana Symphony Orchestras as well as the Montreal Metropolitan Orchestra. His interpretation of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto has been praised for its “completely natural playing, flawless technique, supple phrasing, beautiful and controlled tone quality, intonation, style, and imaginative use of improvised ornamentation” (Claude Gingras, La Presse). He performed this same concerto with the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra in Bratislava where it was broadcast to over 16 European countries.

His fascination for the timbre of period instruments led him to be an active participant in the world of historical performance. He appeared with the Artek Ensemble for concerts in New York, Tafelmusik in Toronto, and Arion in Montréal as well as a recording for ATMA Classique dedicated to the French composer Mehul.

Jean-François is now the happy father of two lovely girls – Florence, two years and a half, and Juliette, nine months old: he cannot wait to share his love for the clarinet with them!