THE MONTREAL PIANIST AND COMPOSER SHARES “ULYSSE” FROM FOURTH ALBUM, OUT SEPTEMBER 25 VIA ARTS & CRAFTS
BUY / STREAM “ULYSSE” HERE
WATCH / SHARE “ULYSSE” HERE
PRE-SAVE MIRADOR HERE
CANADA, EUROPE AND UK TOUR DATES BEGIN THIS FALL
Photo Credit: Adrian Villagomez // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
“The vast cycle of starry life bore his weary mind outward to its verge and inward to its centre, a distant music accompanying him outward and inward. What music?” - James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
mirador is the fourth album from Montreal pianist and composer Jean-Michel Blais, set for release on September 25, 2026 via Arts & Crafts. It is Blais’ first release following his critically acclaimed collaborative album with Lara Somogyi, released last year. Announced today alongside new single “ulysse,” the new record finds the Montreal artist turning his gaze onto a wide, wondrous world - exchanging contemporary minimalism for a light and generous maximalism. It is an odyssey that spans choirs, strings and the music of the Andes, from Spanish caves to Estonian forests and all the way back to the basement in Nicolet, Québec, where Blais first imagined adventures. As a musical kid and, even if he wasn't fully aware of these things yet, as a queer person, with Tourette's, Blais' hideaway was his imaginary lookout, his “mirador,” from which he could dream the world.
“What strange place is this where time dissolves, suspended between sky and earth, between the real and the surreal, with no other bearing than the trace of sunlight slipping through a tiny window, slowly tracing its path along a cold white-brick wall,” says Blais. “There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in. One knocks, one shouts, yet no one comes, save for this dense silence. Until, by chance, by wandering, a door opens from within. a fissure is enough. the desire for an else where still unknown, a will, a direction finally accepted. guilt fades, the troubled mind regains its order. light returns. The sensation of stepping out of a wardrobe, a renewed coming out, and freedom appears, not as promise but as chosen risk, as adventure willingly embraced.”
With more than 375 million streams globally to his name and having played the largest live performances of his career to date, mirador began with Blais reflecting on childhood memories of building imaginary worlds in his parents’ basement. The album’s title references those early “lookout” spaces, places of refuge, invention and possibility. Working with composer and arranger William Brittelle (LA Philharmonic, The National), he had assembled a choir of 12 baroque singers and then added a string quartet of his friends. Blais also enlisted Tulio Velazco Villagra, a master of Andean instruments. Elsewhere residencies at the Arvo Pärt Centre informed the meditative atmosphere. The result is Blais’ most adventurous and transportive work yet, an album that moves fluidly between folk traditions, contemporary composition and cinematic storytelling while holding onto a sense of intimacy throughout.
BUY / STREAM “ULYSSE” HERE
WATCH / SHARE “ULYSSE” HERE
MORE ABOUT JEAN-MICHEL BLAIS
Montreal-based pianist and composer Jean-Michel Blais is signed to Arts & Crafts and Mercury KX (Decca). Since his first album, il, released in 2016 and named one of the 10 best albums of the year by Time Magazine, his music has reached an international audience and accumulated over 375 million streams.
Trained in performance at the conservatory of music, he developed an intimate and expansive musical language on his own, where the piano engages in dialogue with electronic and orchestral textures. A member of the lgbtq+ community and living with Tourette’s syndrome, he also draws on his experience as a social worker to create profoundly human music, driven by sensitivity and emancipation.
His five albums have received critical acclaim, whether in Pitchfork, The Fader or Le Figaro. On stage, he performs solo, in ensembles or with orchestras, in iconic venues such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam or the Southbank Centre in London, as well as in outdoor concerts, notably in front of more than 40,000 spectators at the Montreal International Jazz festival.
A composer for film and television, he won a Cannes Soundtrack Award for his score for Xavier Dolan's film Matthias & Maxime and composed the music for the Wonderfall at Moment Factory installation in Singapore's Changi airport. His music also appears in the Netflix series The Brothers Sun, advertising campaigns for Tudor and Louis Vuitton and during french figure skater Kévin Aymoz's performance at the Milano-Cortina Olympic Games.
PRE-SAVE MIRADOR HERE
JEAN-MICHEL BLAIS PERFORMANCE DATES
TICKETS + MORE INFORMATION HERE
2026
09.24 — Waterloo, QC, Maison de la culture de Waterloo
09.27 — Ste-Geneviève, QC, Salle Pauline Julien
10.03 — Val-Morin, QC, Théâtre du Marais
11.28 — Toronto, ON, Koerner Hall
10.23 — Berlin, DE. Felt Room
10.26 — London, UK. World Heart Beat
10.27 — Utrecht, NL. Tivoli Vredenburg
10.28 — Paris, FR.La Piccola Scala
2027
01.23 — Nominingue, QC, Espace Saint-Ignace
01.28 — Sainte-Thérèse, QC, Théâtre Lionel Groulx
01.29 — St-Hyacinthe, QC, Centre des arts Juliette Lassonde
01.30 — Baie-du-Febvre, QC, Théâtre Belcourt
01.31 — Victoriaville, QC, Le Carré 150
02.05 — Shawinigan, QC, Centre des Arts
02.06 — Sherbrooke, QC ,Théâtre Granada
02.07 — Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, QC, Salle Albert Dumouchel
02.10 — Drummondville, QC, Maison des arts Desjardins Drummondville
02.12 — Joliette, QC, Centre Culturel Desjardins
02.13 — Montmagny, QC, Salle Edwin-Bélanger
02.14 — Québec, QC, Grand Théâtre de Québec
02.17 — Brossard, QC, Théâtre Manuvie
02.18 — L'Assomption, QC, Théâtre Hector Charland
02.19 — St-Marie-de-Beauce, QC, Salle Méchatigan
02.20 — Thetford Mines, QC, Salle Dussault
02.21 — Terrebonne, QC, Théâtre du Vieux-Terrebonne
02.25 — Longueuil, QC, Théâtre de la Ville
02.26 — Laval, QC, Salle André-Mathieu
02.27 — St-Eustache, QC, Le Zénith
03.05 — Ottawa, ON, National Arts Centre
04.30 — Vancouver, BC, Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
05.20 — Edmundston, NB ,Salle Léo-Poulin
05.21 — Caraquet, NB, Centre Culturel de Caraquet
05.22 — Moncton, NB, Capitol Theatre
05.23 — Fredericton, NB to be announced
10.01 — Bromont, QC, Espace Culturel St-John
10.02 — Châteauguay, QC, Château Scènes
10.03 — Lévis, QC, L’Anglicane
10.07 — St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC, Théâtre des Deux-Rives
10.08 — Montréal (LaSalle), QC, Théâtre Desjardins
10.10 — Gatineau, QC, Salle Odyssée
10.12 — St-Jérôme, QC Théâtre Gilles Vigneault
10.13 — Val-d'Or, QC, Théâtre Télébec
10.14 — Rouyn-Noranda, QC, Théâtre du Cuivre
10.15 — Amos, QC, Théâtre des Eskers
10.20 — Saguenay, QC, Théâtre C
10.21 — Rimouski, QC, Salle de Spectacles Desjardins
10.22 — Carleton-sur-Mer, QC, Studio du Quai des Arts
mirador TRACKLIST
1. muses
2. ulysse
3. pavane
4. carnavalito
5. mirador
6. quwi
7. granada
8. kyrie
9. laulasmaa
10. silhouettes
11. querelle
12. a chambre des possibles