Lorraine Desmarais

BIOGRAPHY

Pianist and composer Lorraine Desmarais, first women and jazz piano path-breaker in Canada is also known in the USA, Europe, Mexico, China,Indonesia and Africa for her solo, trio and her own big band performances.She has also appeared with many symphony orchestras with her original version of the George Gershwin’s Rhapsody In Blue; among them, theOrchestre Symphonique de Montréal and the Orquesta Sinfonica deGalicia in Spain.It was in 1984 that her jazz career took off in this country, when theMontreal International Jazz Festival awarded her the Yamaha’s first prize. She now has twelve albums of original compositions to her name,including some jazz standards. Three of these albums (Trio Lorraine Desmarais, Jazz pour Noël and Big Band) have received FÉLIX awards at the ADISQ gala. She was also a guest pianist participating on over twelve others album.Lorraine Desmarais played in concert with artists of worldwide renown such as, Chick Corea, Oliver Jones, Jacky Terrasson, Joe Lovano, the Brubeck Brothers, John Abercrombie, Joanne Brackeen, MarianMcPartland, Tiger Okoshi, Paquito D’Rivera, Ingrid Jensen, Christine Jensen, Kenny Wheeler, Guido Basso, Jane Bunnett, Michel Donato,Alain Caron, Yannick Rieu and the Big Band Diva of New York. Her great versatility has enabled her to work with artists in the classical field such as Marie-Nicole Lemieux, Marc Hervieux, l’Ensemble Caprice, StéphaneTétreault and Alain Trudel.On the popular music scene of Quebec she collaborated with artists suchAriane Moffatt, Martin Deschamps, Jim Corcoran, Michel Rivard, BrunoPelletier, Sylvain Cossette Bob Walsh and Térez Montcalm.She is the recipient of numerous prizes. Among them the First Prize at the Great Jazz Piano American Competition, the Oscar Peterson Award Of the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the composer award from the SOCAN and SPACQ André Gagnon Prize, the Artistic Creation Award of the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec prize and the Ontario ArtsFoundation Prize for Keyboard Artistry. In 2011, she received a DoctoratHonoris Causa from the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQÀM). In2013, she was awarded by becoming Member of the Order of Canada and received the Opus Award for performer of the year from the Conseil Québécois de la Musique.She wrote several film scores for the National Film Board of Canada.Upon special commission, she wrote Sonate pour flûte et piano featuring duettists Lise Daoust and Louise Bessette, Odalisque featuring pianist Oliver Jones, XIII-Theme & Variations, for violinist Angèle Dubeau and La Pietà and Clin d’œil for Orchestre Symphonique de Laval. She also leaded a musical radio program entitled « Lorraine Desmarais reçoit… » for Radio-Canada-CBC. She teaches jazz piano at Cégep St-Laurent,Montréal, Québec.