Jacques Larocque

Jacques Larocque is a Canadian saxophonist, arranger, music educator, and university administrator. He has authored and published numerous transcriptions and arrangements for saxophone quartet; some of which have been recorded by ensembles like the Alliage Saxophone Quartet and the American Saxophone Quartet. He has appeared numerous times on CBC Radio as a soloist and chamber musician and has been a soloist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Quebec Symphony Orchestra, and Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières among others.[1]

Larocque studied the saxophone at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal with Arthur Romano and Pierre Bourque. In 1967 he was awarded the Prix d'Europe and to this date is the only saxophonist to have received that honour.[2] That prize enabled him to pursue further studies at the Conservatoire de Paris in France.

After returning to Canada, Larocque became a member of the renowned Pierre Bourque Saxophone Quartet in 1971 with whom he spent the next several years touring internationally and recording.[3] From 1971–1990 he served as the director of the Module de musique program at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières. He has since taught on the music faculty at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Trois-Rivières. In 1995 he founded the saxophone septet Septune of which he remains Artistic Director. He is also the current Music Director of both Saxophone Andran and the trio Zeugma, and is a member of the Saxium Saxophone Quartet.[1]