A Brief History of Légère

Légère Reeds Ltd. was founded by Dr. Guy Légère and Dr. Mark Kortschot in 1998. Guy, a scientist and amateur clarinettist, thought that there had to be a product that played as well as moist cane without any of the inevitable issues that resulted from using traditional reeds. It was his drive and passion to change these issues that lead to the creation of the first Légère Reed prototype.

After many trials, failed attempts and re-engineering, the first sixty prototypes were made on a home-built CNC machine. They were taken to ClarinetFest in 1998 to test with experienced players. To Mark and Guy’s amazement, all the reeds sold out in half a day, and the rest… is history!

Today, Légère Reeds produces state of the art synthetic reeds for many single and double reed instruments. Distributed worldwide, the reeds are produced in an ultra-modern manufacturing and distribution facility in Barrie, Ontario, Canada.