JEAN-MICHEL BLAIS’ NEW ALBUM MIRADOR EMBARKS ON MAXIMALIST CLASSICAL ODYSSEY, OUT TODAY VIA ARTS & CRAFTS
ACCOMPANIED BY AN IMMERSIVE FILM THAT BLENDS LIVE PERFORMANCE AND NARRATIVE ADVENTURE
WATCH / SHARE MIRADOR SHORT FILM HERE
BUY / STREAM MIRADOR HERE
NEW CANADIAN TOUR DATES ANNOUNCED TODAY
INTIMATE UK AND EUROPEAN TOUR DATES SOLD OUT
"A piece that opens with the full range of a 12-person baroque choir before Blais' piano takes the lead, guiding us through a vibrant dreamscape in just three minutes. ...with Ulysse, Blais is letting us into his inner world." CBC Music, Songs You Need To Hear on “ulysse”
LISTEN TO JEAN-MICHEL BLAIS TALK ABOUT MIRADOR ON CBC Q HERE
Photo Credit: Adrian Villagomez // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
mirador, the fourth album from Montreal pianist and composer Jean-Michel Blais, is out today. It is Blais’ first release following his critically acclaimed collaborative album with Lara Somogyi, released last year. The new record finds the Montreal artist turning his gaze onto a wide, wondrous world, exchanging contemporary minimalism for a light and generous maximalism.
In support of the album’s release, Blais has shared a new film created with longtime collaborator and director Adrian Villagomez. Part live session, part narrative film, the piece brings the world of mirador to life through two parallel stories. As two young boys follow the logic of imagination rather than that of the adults around them, the film gradually slips between the everyday and the surreal, leaving the boundary between the two deliberately unresolved.
WATCH / SHARE MIRADOR SHORT FILM HERE
mirador 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’s hideaway was his imaginary lookout, his “mirador,” from which he could dream the world.
“Despite everything, mirador takes shape and reaches you. Starting from a hazy dream, taking the detours in stride, improvising, falling, getting back up, and pushing on, until arriving somewhere—often where we never planned to go. That's a bit like life, too. From the child's daydream in each of us to its fulfillment, mirador is above all the result of a deeply collective effort, of which I am only the visible tip of a huge iceberg”
With more than 375 million streams globally to his name, 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 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 MIRADOR 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 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.
2026
Sep 24 - Maison de la culture de Waterloo, WATERLOO, ON (Sold Out)
Sep 27 - Salle Pauline Julien, STE-GENEVIÈVE, QC (Sold Out)
Oct 03 - Théâtre du Marais, VAL-MORIN, QC (Sold Out)
Oct 23 - Felt Room, BERLIN, DE (Sold Out)
Oct 26 - World Heart Beat, LONDON, UK (Sold Out)
Oct 27 - TivoliVredenburg, UTRECHT, NL (Sold Out)
Oct 28 - La Piccola Scala, PARIS, FR (Sold Out)
2027
Jan 12 - Le Poisson Rouge, NEW YORK, NY
Jan 13 - First Unitarian Church, PHILADELPHIA, PA
Jan 14 - Iron Horse, NORTHAMPTON, MA
Jan 15 - Press Room, PORTSMOUTH, NH
Jan 16 - Arts at the Armory, BOSTON, MA
Jan 23 - Espace Saint-Ignace, NOMININGUE, QC
Jan 28 - Théâtre Lionel Groulx, SAINTE-THÉRÈSE, QC
Jan 29 - Centre des arts Juliette Lassonde, ST-HYACINTHE, QC
Jan 30 - Théâtre Belcourt, BAIE-DU-FEBVRE, QC (Sold Out)
Jan 31 - Le Carré 150, VICTORIAVILLE, QC
Feb 05 - Centre des Arts, SHAWINIGAN, QC
Feb 06 - Théâtre Granada, SHERBROOKE, QC
Feb 07 - Salle Albert Dumouchel, SALABERRY-DE-VALLEYFIELD, QC
Feb 10 - Maison des arts Desjardins Drummondville, DRUMMONDVILLE, QC
Feb 12 - Centre Culturel Desjardins, JOLIETTE, QC
Feb 13 - Salle Edwin-Bélanger, MONTMAGNY, QC
Feb 14 - Grand Théâtre de Québec, QUÉBEC, QC
Feb 17 - Théâtre Manuvie, BROSSARD, QC
Feb 18 - Théâtre Hector Charland, L'ASSOMPTION, QC
Feb 19 - Salle Méchatigan, ST-MARIE-DE-BEAUCE, QC
Feb 20 - Salle Dussault, THETFORD MINES, QC
Feb 21 - Théâtre du Vieux-Terrebonne, TERREBONNE, QC
Feb 25 - Théâtre de la Ville, LONGUEUIL (Sold Out), QC
Feb 26 - Salle André-Mathieu, LAVAL, QC
Feb 27 - Le Zénith, ST-EUSTACHE, QC
Mar 05 - National Arts Centre, OTTAWA, ON
Mar 17 - Jazzmine, WARSAW, PL
Mar 20 - Halle 424, HAMBURG, DE
Mar 21 - Heimathafen, BERLIN, DE
Mar 22 - Pianeo Festival, MÜNSTER, DE
Mar 23 - Zeche Carl, ESSEN, DE
Mar 24 - Kings Place, LONDON, OK
Mar 26 - CCHA, HASSELT. BE
Mar 27 - Schouwburg, LEUVEN, NL
Mar 28 - Concertgebouw, AMSTERDAM, NL
Apr 03 - Café de la Danse, PARIS, FR
Apr 27 - Salle Pauline-Boutal, WINNIPEG, MB
Apr 28 - Calgary Festival Hall, CALGARY, AB
Apr 30 - Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, VANCOUVER, BC
May 01 - Fremont Abbey, SEATTLE, WA
May 02 - Hallowed Halls, PORTLAND, OR
May 04 - The Chapel, SAN FRANCISCO, CA
May 05 - Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever, LOS ANGELES, CA
May 20 - Salle Léo-Poulin, EDMUNDSTON, NB
May 21 - Centre Culturel de Caraquet, CARAQUET, NB
May 22 - Capitol Theatre, MONCTON, NB
May 23 - Playhouse, FREDERICTON, NB
Jun 27 - Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, MONTRÉAL, QC
Oct 01 - Centre Culturel St-John, BROMONT, QC
Oct 02 - Château Scènes, CHÂTEAUGUAY, QC
Oct 03 - L’Anglicane, LÉVIS, QC
Oct 07 - Théâtre des Deux-Rives, ST-JEAN-SUR-RICHELIEU, QC
Oct 08 - Théâtre Desjardins, MONTRÉAL, QC (LASALLE)
Oct 10 - Salle Odyssée, GATINEAU, QC
Oct 12 - Théâtre Gilles Vigneault, ST-JÉRÔME, QC
Oct 13 - Théâtre Eldorado Gold, VAL-D'OR, QC
Oct 14 - Théâtre du Cuivre, ROUYN-NORANDA, QC
Oct 15 - Théâtre des Eskers, AMOS, QC
Oct 19 - Salle J.-Antonio-Thompson, TROIS RIVIÈRES, QC
Oct 20 - Théâtre C, SAGUENAY, QC
Oct 21 - Salle de Spectacles Desjardins, RIMOUSKI, QC
Oct 22 - Studio du Quai des Arts, CARLETON-SUR-MER, QC
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. la chambre des possibles