Jean Lesage studied at the Conservatoire de Montréal with Gilles Tremblay (analysis, composition), Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux and Yves Daoust (electroacoustics), as well as with Bernard and Mireille Legacé (organ, harpsichord). His encounters with the composer John Rea were crucial for his musical development. His catalogue includes more than forty works, performed in Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, England, Italy and Austria. Several of his works have been commissioned by the Ensemble contemporain de Montréal, the Nouvel Ensemble Moderne, the SMCQ, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, and the CBC. He has received numerous distinctions, including the CAPAC Prize (1987) and the Robert Fleming Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts (1988). Very active on the Montreal music scene, the composer has been professor of composition and orchestration at McGill University since 1999 and is associate composer at the Canadian Music Centre.