Walter Boudreau was born in Montreal October 15, 1947 to a musical family. His mother was a pianist; his father, who played alto saxophone in dance bands in Sorel, died just before Walter's birth. Walter Boudreau studied piano from age 7 to 13, then alto saxophone and later tenor saxophone. At 18 he led a jazz quartet. In 1968, with songwriter / poet Raoul Duguay, he founded the Montreal mixed-media music ensemble L'Infonie. Boudreau was the group's conductor and principal composer and arranger. He studied musical analysis at McGill University with Bruce Mather in 1968-1970, and analysis and composition with Serge Garant at Université de Montreal and with Gilles Tremblay at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal in 1969-1973. He had internships in Europe with Kagel, Ligeti, Stockhausen, and Xenakis, and with Boulez in Cleveland. A prolific composer, Boudreau has written for various types of musical ensembles and for Quebec films. He won first prize in the 1973 CBC National Competition for Young Composers. In 1982 he was the youngest-ever winner of the Jules-Léger Prize for his compositionOdyssée du Soleil. He has been the artistic director and conductor for the Société de musique contemporaine du Québec, and is invited to conduct other orchestras.