Photo Yvan Couillard – Lorraine Desmarais will present her show Street Beat Suite in trio format at the Théâtre Gilles-Vigneault on March 15th.
Pianist and composer Lorraine Desmarais, pioneer of jazz piano in Canada, will be at the Théâtre Gilles-Vigneault in Saint-Jérôme on Friday, March 15, at 8 p.m. to present the Street Beat Suite show in trio format.
She is internationally recognized, particularly in the United States, Mexico, Europe, China, Indonesia and Africa for her solo, trio and big band performances.
She has also performed with several symphony orchestras, including the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Orchester Métropolitain, the Quebec Symphony Orchestra, the Laval Symphony Orchestra and the Orquesta Sinfonica de Galicia, Spain.
40 year career
It was in 1984 that Lorraine Desmarais entered the country's jazz scene when the Montreal International Jazz Festival awarded her a first prize as a composer and performer.
She now has 12 albums of original compositions, including the latest Street Beat Suite, released in January 2023.
Three of these albums (Trio Lorraine Desmarais, Jazz pour Noël and Lorraine Desmarais Big Band) earned him Félix awards at the ADISQ gala. She also won first prize at the Great American Jazz Piano Competition, the Oscar Peterson Prize at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the André Gagnon Prize from SPACQ, the SOCAN Composers Prize and the Creation Prize from the Conseil des Arts and Letters of Quebec.
In addition to these major awards, there are three Opus awards that the Conseil québécois de la musique awards for various projects: Artist of the Year, Creation of Work and Jazz Concert of the Year. In 2011, the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM) awarded him an honorary doctorate. In 2013 she was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada.
Over the past 40 years, Lorraine Desmarais has performed with internationally renowned artists including Chick Corea, Oliver Jones, Jacky Terrasson, Joe Lovano, the Brubeck Brothers, John Abercrombie, Joanne Brackeen, Marian Mc Partland, Tiger Okoshi, Paquito D'Rivera, Ingrid and Christine Jensen, Kenny Wheeler, Guido Basso, Jane Bunnett, Michel Donato, Alain Caron, Michel Cusson, Yannick Rieu and the Diva Big Band from New York.”
In Quebec, his musical versatility allows him to share the stage with artists from the classical world, including Alain Trudel, Stéphane Tétreault and Marie-Nicole Lemieux. On the popular stage she played with Ariane Moffatt, Michel Rivard, Bruno Pelletier, Sylvain Cossette, Térez Montcalm, Diane Dufresne and Bob Walsh.