In August of 2005, pipe organ voicer and technician Alain Gagnon arrived in Kingston from Montréal. Alain is newly married, and his wife Brigid is a long-time Kingston resident. The Gagnons live in Elginburg, where Alain has set up a home office and workshop for his new business.
Alain’s interest in music was sparked in his teen years, when he acquired skill as a drummer and percussionist. Music soon became his passion, and it wasn't long before he fell in love with the French horn, which he studied for several years. He went on to explore the cello, violin and trumpet.
In the midst of his various studies, Alain developed a taste for pipe organ music and made his first contact with the organ building profession: he began work in 1984 as a voicer with the prestigious pipe organ builder, Casavant Frères of St-Hyacinthe, Québec. Alain progressed quickly; he had previously completed a college diploma program in Aeronautic Building (1982), and this training provided him with the technical background for understanding the mechanical aspects of the pipe organ. After a short time he became a team leader at Casavant, and he was assigned to supervise the tonal finishing of organs in both Canada and United States.
In 1989, Alain joined the firm Caron Gagnon Baumgarten as tonal director. His job brought him to Kingston for the first time, where he worked on the restoration and revoicing of the organ at St. George’s Cathedral. In 1991, he traveled to Europe, where he spent four intensive months studying the pipe organ in France; while there, he had access to some of the greatest instruments in the world. Alain returned to the Montréal area and in 1994 created his own company, Alain Gagnon Harmoniste. In 1997, he rejoined Casavant Frères as a team leader.
Now established in Kingston, Alain Gagnon Pipe Organs offers a complete range of pipe organ services, including voicing, tuning, maintenance and restoration. Telephone: (613) 389-8619; cell: (613) 484-6712; email: .