Deeply fascinated and inspired by the connections between different forms of artistic expression, the Montreal based composer Maxime Goulet works within various realms of musical creation ranging from opera to video games… and all the way to setting chocolate flavours to music!
Photo by Nadia Zheng
An orchestral suite meant to accompany chocolate tasting, a piano concerto as a soundtrack for a chess game, a fishing story mimed by a costumed clarinetist, a cabaret opera based on a comic book, a crowd game for beach ball and orchestra, an 8-bit concerto, a workout for orchestra, a mashup of 35 anthems… With his communicative musical language and the originality of his concepts, the Montreal based composer Maxime Goulet connects with audiences from all kinds of backgrounds and experiences, from youth audiences to savvy music aficionados. His music is written in a contemporary tonal style and has been described as “skillful, immediately pleasant and very cinematographic”, “melodic and narrative”, “a mix of simplicity, of modernity and of humour”, and “an immediate connection with the audience”. His album Symphonic Chocolates has been described as “an off-the-wall idea that makes classical music more festive”.
His works has been performed on five continents by leading ensembles such as the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Opera, the Liege Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre Régional de Normandie, the National Art Center Orchestra, the Orchestre symphonique de Québec, the Orchestre Métropolitain, the Pacific Opera Victoria, Angèle Dubeau & La Pietà, the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, the Victoria Symphony, the Lancaster Symphony Orchestra, the Endless Mountain Music Festival Orchestra, the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra, the Oakville Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre symphonique du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, the Thunder Bay Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre symphonique de Laval, the Conway Symphony Orchestra, the Stratford Symphony Orchestra and the Toledo Symphony.
His works are now part of orchestra’s regular repertoire. Symphonic Chocolates has been performed more than 75 times, Citius, altius, fortius! more than 35 times, and On Halloween Night is performed each year during the Halloween period by many orchestras. Some of his works are included in the acclaimed David Daniels Orchestral Music Handbook, a sourcebook for planning orchestral programs. Also, the soprano aria “Song of Persistence”, from his opera The Flight of the Hummingbird, is part of the Canadian Opera Anthology.
His mash-up United Anthems was recorded by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and is featured on the album Canada Mosaic – Sesquies. His Olympic ouverture Citius, altius, fortius! is featured on the album Les plaisirs coupables of the Orchestre symphonique de Sherbrooke and on the album Jean-Willy Kunz Au grand orgue de Pierre-Béique. His orchestral suite Symphonic Chocolates was recorded by the Prague FILMharmonic Orchestra and is featured on the album Chocolats symphoniques.
Maxime Goulet was Composer-in-Residence for the National Academy Orchestra of Canada (2011-2012), as part of the Brott Music Festival, and for the McGill Chamber Orchestra (2013-2014).
He is currently composing his Ice Storm Symphony – a work that commemorates the 25th anniversary of the historical 1998 ice storm in Quebec. The symphony is commissioned by five north American orchestras: the Orchestre classique de Montréal, ROCO, the Orchestre symphonique de Laval, the Orchestre symphonique de Sherbrooke, and Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières.
Interview with Maxime Goulet about his composition United Anthems
Interview with Maxime Goulet about his composition Symphonic Chocolates
Driven by the desire to make music more interactive, the Montreal based composer Maxime Goulet scored more than 30 video games such as Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade, Roller Coaster Tycoon World, The Amazing Spider-Man, Dungeon Hunter-I, II, III, IV, Shrek Forever After, Brothers in arms 2: Global Front, Brothers in Arms 3: Sons of War, Iron Man 2, Order and Chaos and Backstab. His score for Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade and Dungeon Hunter IV were nominated for best original music at the Canadian Video Game Award. His game music has been described as “supporting the look and feel of the game with both emotion and atmosphere, giving it a close to filmic quality”, “a music that brings out the best of every moment”, “one of the, if not the, best looking and sounding games on the iTunes store”, “a mind blowing soundtrack”, “powerful and effective”, “as epic as you can get” and “a particular standout”.
As composer, conceptor and artistic coordinator, Maxime Goulet created The Montreal Video Game Symphony, a multi-media concert that combines the power of the symphony orchestra and the immersive and interactive world of gaming.
Interview with Maxime Goulet about his music for the video game Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade
Interview with Maxime Goulet about his Montreal Video Game Symphony concert for the 375th Anniversary of the City of Montreal
Maxime Goulet holds a Master’s degree in Composition from the University of Montreal where he studied with Alan Belkin (2007) and has participated in the Canadian Contemporary Music Workshop directed par Gary Kulesha (2007), in addition to master classes at the Festival international du film d’Aubagne in France (2007), at the Orchestration for Film Workshop with Scott Smalely in New York (2008), and at the ASCAP Flim Scoring Workshop in Los Angeles (2009) where he recorded his music at the 20th Century Fox Studios with the Hollywood Studio Symphony. He now teaches composition at the University of Sherbrooke.
Maxime Goulet was born in Montreal, on June 7th, 1980.