Sherbrooke (Québec), 1965
Composer • Improviser

Composer Jérôme Blais studied music and began his career in Montréal. His compositions foster introspection and sound exploration by encouraging musicians to unleash their creativity and exploit the intimate bond between the artist and his instrument. His style, is a unique blend of multiple influences: from oral and popular traditional music to contemporary concert music. Scores of bands, orchestras and artists performed his works, among them soprano Suzie LeBlanc, Symphony Nova Scotia, l’Ensemble contemporain de Montréal, l’Orchestre métropolitain de Montréal, le Quatuor de saxophones Quasar, le Quatuor à cordes Bozzini, Bradyworks, Array Music and Continuum. In October 2018, at the Venice Biennale, cellists Norman Adams and Nicola Baroni performed the composer’s Soliloque 04. In 2015 Blais (Un) Forgotten Voices, was awarded Le Prix collégien de musique contemporaine (PCMC). In 2013, his CD Between the Ships and the Shore won the East Coast Music Association (ECMA) Award for the Best Classical Recording. Since 2004 Jérôme Blais is Professor of Composition and Music Theory at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

[i-19]