A native of Quebec City, Denis Dion holds a master's degree in composition from Laval University and a D.M.A. from University of Southern California of Los Angeles. After his formal studies, he spent a year in Europe on a Canada Council grant. Back in Quebec, he worked in Studio Amaryllis, in the field of electronic music. The composer has been awarded many distinctions in Canada, the U.S. and France, and has received commissions from CBC, the Quebec Youth Orchestra, the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, the Trois-Rivières Orchestra, Angèle Dubeau and La Pietà, Pierre Boulez for the Ensemble InterContemporain de Paris, and from Lorraine Vaillancourt for Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne. Denis Dion is currently composer-in-residence at the Trois-Rivières Symphony Orchestra. In 2001, he won the Opus Price "Création de l'année" for his piece entitled À la mère, written for string orchestra and live electronics. In 2004, he has again received the Opus Price "Création de l'année", this time for his piece De mains osées toiles, written for instrumental ensemble, CD, video images by Carolane St-Pierre and texts by Rita Painchaud. He received also the Opus "Composer of the year 2003-04."