About
Mireille Proulx performs her own compositions on stage and on disc.
She practices an original style rooted in a fusion of jazz and classical music, in a format rarely seen in jazz, the violin-piano duo. Her work has aroused interest in Canada, Europe and the U.S., especially since both violinist-composers and jazz violinists are few and far between. She has collaborated with such well-known Canadian pianists as John Sadowy, François Bourassa, Guy Dubuc, Jeff Johnston, Daniel Thouin, Bryn Roberts and Eric Harding.
Described as “exceptional” by the legendary Dave Brubeck, her first CD, Il y avait des pélicans, met with unanimous acclaim among critics and the public, and led to her accepting invitations from prestigious international festivals and renowned concert series in both Europe and the U.S. The disc also earned her an ADISQ (Quebec music awards) nomination in the Jazz Album category.
Two videos featuring pieces from the album aired on a number of television stations.
Her composition “Vacances” became the theme music from 1993 to 1996 on the cultural program Aux premières loges, broadcast by Radio-Canada, the French-language counterpart to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
Concert in Vienne, France
In July 1993 she represented the FM component of Radio-Canada at the European Broadcasting Union Jazz Festival, twinned that year with the prestigious Umbria Jazz in Perugia, Italy. In the same season she appeared at the Jazz by the Sea festival in Fano on the Adriatic coast.
The following year she was invited to perform at France’s international Jazz à Vienne festival, and went on to play the opening concert at the 34th edition of the Festival international de Jazz d’Antibes–Juan-les-Pins, in the celebrated pinède Gould.
In 1995 she performed in several Canadian cities, and in October 1996 undertook a tour that included colleges and universities in the New England towns of Newport, Providence and Woonsocket, among other places. In New York she gave a concert in Wall Street’s Trinity Church, as part of the 28th edition of the Church’s annual musical program.
Press conference, Antibes–Juan-les-Pins
Her second CD, Infini Rendez-vous, and the video of the title piece were launched in November 1997. The disc, inspired by the violinist’s European touring, drew critical praise for her talents as composer, her energetic interpretation, and the unique sound she produces. The CBC’s Jurgen Gothe picked it as one of the year’s 24 best CDs. In the fall of 1999 appeared a fourth video, “Lumière dans la coulée.”
On the heels of this second compact disc's release, she did a tour of Quebec in 1998-99 that took her to the following towns: Richmond, Lévis, Lac-Mégantic, Repentigny, Sainte-Adèle, Vaudreuil-Dorion, Val-d’Or, North Hatley, LaSalle, Longueuil and Beloeil. She also gave a number of concerts in Montreal, among them performances two years running as part of the Montreal International Jazz Festival’s “Jazz d’ici” series, at Théâtre du Nouveau Monde and on the du Maurier outdoor stage.
In 1999, shooting of a second video from Infini Rendez-vous (“Lumière dans la coulée”), directed by Lyne Charlebois and featuring Sylvie Drapeau and Patrick Goyette.
An excerpt from the piece “Infini Rendez-vous” was chosen as the opening theme for the Société Radio-Canada television program Info Service during the period June 2000 to June 2001.
In 2003 she released her third disc, Le Jardin de nuit, inspired by New York City and the paintings of Riopelle, Pellan and Ferron; and in 2010, her fourth, Volutes, this one inspired by heritage architecture and the work of sculptors Dale Chihuly and Armand Vaillancourt. Two singles from these disks, “Rouge et bleu” and “Cumulus,” were the subject of animated short films that aired on Télé-Québec, Bravo!, and on more than 60 TV stations in the U.S. Canadian tours followed the release of these discs, highly acclaimed by critics and the public alike.
Japanese filmmaker Hiro Konishi, based in Los Angeles, used excerpts from Il y avait des pélicans (“Vacances,” “Une salamandre” and “Gargouilles et chimères”) in the soundtrack to his motion picture Hanging Nowhere.
Concert in New York with Daniel Thouin
A graduate of the Conservatoire de musique du Québec in Montreal, Mireille Proulx acquired enormous experience as part of a variety of ensembles before setting off on the path to jazz and composition.
A freelance violinist with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre symphonique de Québec and Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain, she took part in tours of the Bolshoi Ballet, London’s Royal Ballet, the Grands Ballets Canadiens, the Opéra de l’Avignon and the Centre lyrique de Wallonie, as well as in shows by singers Paul Anka, Johnny Mathis and Julio Iglesias, and pianist André Gagnon. She also contributed to the recording of various jingles and TV programs, including, on several occasions, Les Beaux dimanches on Radio-Canada, for which she was also responsible for the musical conception and interpretation of themes for some episodes of the show Michou et Pilo.
In the early 1980s, she gradually moved away from orchestral playing in favor of jazz. She transcribed pieces by Stéphane Grappelli and played standards by Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk, John Lewis, Chick Corea and Dave Brubeck. Montreal jazz pianist Lorraine Desmarais created a piece for her called “Duo.”
In 1987 she began writing her own music and including it in the numerous concerts she would perform in such distinguished venues as La Licorne, Grand Théâtre de Québec, Théâtre du Vieux Treuil, Théâtre Maisonneuve at Place des Arts, Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, the National Library of Canada, the National Gallery, Palais Montcalm, Musée de la civilisation in Quebec City and Théâtre du Cuivre.
In 1988 she was the “Discovery” of the Ottawa Jazz Festival, and starting in 1986 played regularly at the Montreal International Jazz Festival.
In 1991 she opened for Dave Brubeck at a gala evening of the Ballets jazz de Montréal at the Spectrum de Montréal.
She was awarded several grants from the Québec Ministry of Culture and Communications and the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres, thanks to the originality and quality of her work.
She was commissioned to create works by the Maison de la culture Marie-Uguay in Montreal on the institution’s tenth anniversary in 1991 (two of the works would find their way onto her albums), and by the painter Jean-Marc Blier, one of whose canvases served her as inspiration in writing the piece “Infini Rendez-Vous.”
With Dave Brubeck, July 2008.