Nouveau spectacle

Jean-Michel Blais is a Montreal-based pianist, composer and performer signed to Arts & Crafts and Mercury KX (Decca). His debut album, Il, was named one of Time magazine’s 10 best albums of 2016, and his music has since amassed more than 375 million streams worldwide. A member of the LGBTQ+ community who lives with Tourette syndrome, he also draws on his experience as a special education worker to create compositions that are both ecstatic and intimate, blending virtuosic piano with rich orchestral and electronic textures shaped by improvisation. Blais has performed around the world as a soloist, with chamber ensembles and with symphony orchestras. From intimate recital halls to crowds of 40,000 at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, he captivates audiences with immersive, highly virtuosic performances. His score for Xavier Dolan’s Matthias & Maxime earned him a Cannes Soundtrack Award. His latest album, désert, an hour-long improvised collaboration with electronic harpist Lara Somogyi, spent 32 weeks on the Billboard Classical USA chart and received a JUNO nomination for Instrumental Album of the Year. He is preparing to tour his next album, scheduled for release in fall 2026.