Jean-Michel Blais aubades Quartet performs at The Old Church

Jean-Michel Blais  is a pianist-composer-performer based in Montreal. In September 2021, Blais released aubades, on which for the first time, he wrote for chamber orchestra, thus moving from a simple pianist to an assumed composer. Thus was born aubades, an album named after the Middle Ages notion of romantic music written for dawn and daybreak, performed by troubadours under the windows of others. With this new record, Jean-Michel Blais has created 11 aubades for 12 musicians, all of which celebrate rebirth, a season in bloom and the expectation of a new day to come.

“Music has this ability to create a time and space and a place where people are able to heal themselves. This album bears a lot of joy and hope. I think I was writing my own medication and self-therapy, writing the joy that I needed at that particular time. I can’t wait to share it with people.”

aubades marks the Montreal-born musician’s transition from pianist to composer, as he writes for an ensemble for the first time in his career. Written during the pandemic and following a breakup, Blais has used his distinctive musical voice to create a defiantly uplifting record with glistening instrumental textures and warm major tonalities.