Pierre Béique

In 1939, Pierre Béique was appointed administrator and, in that capacity, directed the destinies of the SCSM (MSO) until his retirement in 1970. As special adviser to the president of the Montréal Symphony Orchestra (MSO) from 1970 to 1975, musical adviser to the managing director in 1977, special assistant to the artistic director from 1978 to 1980, special adviser to the artistic director from 1981 to 1987 and general director emeritus as of 1987, Pierre Béique stands as the prime architect of the MSO as we know it today, and it is to him that the Montréal public owes the early visits of conductors of the calibre of Walter, Klemperer, Munch, Szell, Markevitch and Monteux, and the later ones of Bernstein, Leinsdorf, Abbado, Ozawa and Mehta, whom Montrealers were able to meet at the same time as did U.S. and European centres.

Concurrently with the early years of the orchestra, his private enterprise, Les Concerts Pierre Béique (1940–45), brought a large number of world-famous artists to Montréal, among them Horowitz, Anderson, Serkin, Casadesus and Melchior. In November 1978, Pierre Béique was named the Great Montrealer of the last 20 years in the field of music by the Queen Elizabeth Hotel on the occasion of its 20^th anniversary. His prognosis on the future of the MSO was contained in the chapter Allegro ma non troppo that he wrote for Montréal: la prochaine décennie (Montréal 1980). In 1979, he was named a Member of the Order of Canada, of which he became an Officer in 1990. In 1989, he was named vice-president of the Opéra de Montréal Guild.

In his book titled Ils ont été la musique du siècle (2001), he recounts both his own memoir and the history of the MSO. He was named to the Panthéon canadien de l’art lyrique in 2001. In 1998, the Fonds Pierre Béique was established to ensure the long-term viability of the MSO.

Pierre Béique died in 2003. He was inducted into the Academy of Great Montrealers in the Cultural category in 1978 and was named a Commander of the Ordre de Montréal in 2016.