Violinist Blake Pouliot Joins The Opus 3 Artists Roster

Opus 3 Artists welcomes Canadian violinist Blake Pouliot to our distinguished roster of soloists, for worldwide management.

Establishing himself as one of Canada's most promising young artists, Twenty-three-year-old violinist Blake Pouliot is the Grand Prize winner of the 2016 Orchestra Symphonique de Montréal (OSM) Manulife Competition. After his performance of the Korngold Violin Concerto at his debut with the Montreal Symphony and conductor Vasily Petrenko in February 2017, he was described by Montreal's La Presse as "Clearly. Absolutely. Undoubtedly virtuoso."

In September 2017, Mr. Pouliot records his debut album for the Canadian label Analekta Records. The CD, featuring the works of Ravel and Debussy, is due for release in early 2018. Upcoming highlights during the 2017-2018 season feature Mr. Pouliot as soloist in a return engagement with the Toronto Symphony, and debuts with the National Arts Center Orchestra, and the Vancouver, Edmonton, Newfoundland, Pasadena, and Bakersfield Symphonies. He will also be featured in recital at the Banff Centre, Fête de la Musique Mont Tremblant, Orford Arts Centre, and Pasadena's Boston Court. This season Mr. Pouliot will be heard on national radio broadcasts both on CBC Radio-Canada and on American Public Media as a 2017-18 Young Artist-in-Residence with Performance Today.

Since his solo orchestral debut with the Toronto Trinity Chamber Orchestra at age 11, Mr. Pouliot has performed as soloist with the Aspen Philharmonic Orchestra, Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra, the Jefferson Symphony Orchestra (Colorado), Ottawa Symphony, Pacific Symphony, the Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra in Bulgaria, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the Colburn Orchestra at Walt Disney Concert Hall; and with conductors Sir Neville Marriner, Nicolas McGegan, Tito Muñoz, Carl St. Clair, Alain Trudel, and Hugh Wolff. Mr. Pouliot has performed in recital in Chicago, Los Angeles, Montreal, Toronto, and was featured on Rob Kapilow's What Makes it Great? series with Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata at the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts.

Trained as a multifaceted performer, Mr. Pouliot appeared on Canadian television programs Flashpoint and Warehouse 13 as a teenager. He has also performed as narrator in Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf, Britten's Young Persons Guide to the Orchestra, and Saint-Saens Carnival of the Animals; all with the American Youth Symphony at Royce Hall in Los Angeles. Mr. Pouliot earned first prize for his piano composition, Starlight on Water, at the 2010 Canadian Contemporary Music Festival.

Mr. Pouliot studied violin in Canada with Marie Berard and Erika Raum, and he completed his training as an associate of The Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. He has attended the Aspen Music Festival and School, as well as other summer music programs. Mr. Pouliot currently studies at the Colburn School in Los Angeles with Robert Lipsett, the Jascha Heifetz Distinguished Violin Chair. At Colburn, Mr. Pouliot has been a member of the Colburn Artists program for students readying to launch solo or chamber-music careers.

Mr. Pouliot performs on the 1729 Guarneri del Gesù, on generous loan from the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank as First Laureate of their 2015 Competition.