André Ristic

Who is André Ristic?

André Ristic is a Canadian composer, pianist, accordion player, and music theorist. He has won several awards, including the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music in 2000 for his work Catalogue de bombes occidentales, the Prix opus for Composer of the Year in 2002, and the Prix Québec-Flandre in 2003.

Born in Quebec City, Ristic's parents originated from Poland and Montenegro. He began his professional studies at the Université du Québec à Montréal in mathematics, eventually transferring to the Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal where he studied piano, harpsichord, and musical composition. His background in mathematics has had an impact on his work as a music theorist, with a particular interest being the mathematical representation of sound. Since 1993 he has applied himself to research in video synchronisation by the algorithmic numerical analysis of audio data.

In the mid-1990s Ristic served as the pianist for the Ensemble contemporain de Montréal. In 1998 he co-founded the chamber ensemble Trio Fibonacci with Gabriel Prynn and Julie-Anne Derome, performing and composing music for the group until 2006. The ensemble notably won the Prix opus in 2001.