Triple Concerto (Only at the Maison symphonique)

Born in Trois-Rivières, he studied with Clermont Pépin, Olivier Messiaen, and Henri Dutilleux, and composed around 80 works, including orchestral music, five symphonies, concertos for various instruments, as well as piano, chamber, and vocal music.

His Triple Concerto was composed in 2002 at the request of the Trio Hochelaga and premiered the following year at the Festival international de Lanaudière by the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal under Jacques Lacombe. Concertos for trio and orchestra are rare. Beyond certain Baroque examples for three instruments, the idea truly begins with Beethoven. He was followed by the Czech composer Jan Václav Voříšek, and later by Martinů, Malipiero, Lera Auerbach, and Wolfgang Rihm in the 20th and 21st centuries.

About the work, Hétu said: “The concerto as a whole displays a sustained expressive character, lyrical in the slow movements and sometimes extremely dramatic in the rapid passages. This dramatic character arises from the musical discourse, which constantly shifts between the trio, treated as a single entity, and the orchestra, with which it either contrasts or blends.”