OLIVIER HÉBERT-BOUCHARD

A laureate of numerous international competitions, pianist Olivier Hébert-Bouchard is rapidly making a name for himself on the Canadian music scene as one of the most active pianists of his generation.

 

A founding member of Trio Émerillon, Hexade, and Memento mori, he also collaborates with several significant Québec musicians, most notably flutist Ariane Brisson, clarinettist David Dias da Silva and cellist Stéphane Tétreault. Olivier has made appearances in countless concert series and festivals: Tanglewood on Parade, the Festival International du Domaine Forget, the Festival Montréal/Nouvelles Musiques, the Festival Montréal Bach, the Pro Musica Society, Arte Musica, the Canadian Opera Company Chamber Music Series, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the New York Flute Fair, the Orford Music Festival and the Nuits magiques de Nice, to name but a few. His projects have been selected and supported for touring throughout North America by important arts foundations and presenters including Jeunesses Musicales Canada, Astral Artists, the New York Concert Artist Guild, and Bargemusic. Some of these projects have also been recorded on the ATMA Classique label.

 

Olivier is originally from Trois-Rivières where he completed a performance degree with great distinction at the Conservatoire de musique. Thanks to a scholarship from the Manhattan School of Music, he was able to pursue his studies in New York where he obtained a master’s degree in 2011, again with great distinction. He then went on to study under several world-renowned pianists and pedagogues at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg in Austria, the Académie internationale d’été de Nice in France, and the Juilliard School.

 

A love of multidisciplinary art has led Olivier to collaborate on projects that include dance, theater, improvisation, visual art, and music. These projects were often in association with organizations and broadcasters such as Corpus Rhésus Danse, the Juilliard School, the Festival International de la poésie de Trois-Rivières, and the Conservatoires d’art dramatique du Québec. In 2010, he was also cast in the film L’enfant prodige (directed by Luc Dionne) in which he ‘‘played’’ the hands of composer André Mathieu. A passionate defender of contemporary music, Olivier is dedicated to shining a light on up-and-coming composers and has, since the beginning of his career, premiered several of their works. His excitement about lesser-known, rarely-played repertoire has kept him pushing the boundaries of instrumentation in his arrangements for various chamber music ensembles.

Olivier’s captivating stage presence, as well as the thoughtfulness, depth and sincerity of his work have enabled him to share the stage alongside some of the biggest names in contemporary classical music. Most recently he has played with Emmanuel Pahud, Julien Beaudiment, Mario Caroli, Robert Langevin, Gilbert Audin, Jeroen Berwaerts, Éric Aubier, Stefan Dohr, Louis-Philippe Marsolais, Oystein Baadsvik, Julian Rachlin, Tom Wiebe and Vadim Gluzman. Olivier was a nominee at the Prix Opus, and has been a grant recipient of the Conseil des arts de Montréal, the Conseil de la culture et des communications de la Mauricie, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the Canada Council for the Arts in the creation of his many projects.