Alain Desgagné won a “Premier Prix” from the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec and later obtained a Master’s and Certificate degrees from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, under the direction of Robert Marcellus. He started his professional career in 1989 with the Victoria Symphony, then became solo clarinet of the Winnipeg Symphony in 1996 and finally, in 2001, he won his current position of “clarinette solo associé” with the “Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal”.

Desgagné has held several positions in summer music festivals around the world. For 15 years he has been on the faculty of the Marrowstone Music Festival in Washington State, he was principal clarinet of the National Orchestra of Italy in 2005, and Principal Clarinet of the New European Chamber Orchestra in Seattle. Alain has been a featured soloist with the Winnipeg Symphony and the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra.  He is currently a faculty member of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada and Associate Professor at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University.