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Photo by Sam Waxman
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Clara Schumann with Henry Kramer
The Violin Channel Vanguard Concert Series | Porter & Pouliot
MEET THE PROS | VC Young Artist Blake Pouliot – 20 Questions
Korngold | Violin Concerto in D Major Op. 35 | OSM Manulife Competition
Blake Pouliot performs Estrellita

Pouliot “surged onstage in rock star pants, presenting Brahms as a composer of great passion…compellingly—indeed, irresistibly—done.”

Dallas Morning News

“Pouliot’s virtuosity went from moments of great power and brawn to stratospheric notes so delicate they sounded like they could fall from the high-wire at any moment.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer

“One of those special talents that comes along once in a lifetime.”

Toronto Star

“Given the caliber of musicians who are invited to perform at La Jolla SummerFest, it is not easy to stand out in such accomplished company. Violinist Blake Pouliot, however, is the happy exception to that observation.”

San Diego Story

“Pouliot cuts a striking figure, and, with his light purple jacket and bad boy haircut, he ­reminded this listener of the British superstar violinist Nigel Kennedy in his younger days. Nor was the comparison too far-fetched musically, for here is clearly a young ­violinist of great promise, producing not only a lovely, mellow violin tone in the more contemplative first two movements, but also an exemplary sense of pacing and colour in, for example, the end of the second movement. Here was sentiment, not ­sentimentality, just what the concerto needs to avoid sounding too mawkish.”

Edmonton Classical News

“Pouliot joined the orchestra for a consuming rendition of Bruch’s “Scottish Fantasy” for violin and orchestra. He played with a completely captivating mix of musical fervor, some blindingly fast technical passages, simply stated traditional folk tunes, and a completely disarming grin that popped up in the middle of musical pyrotechnics.”

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

“Pouliot puts the listener at ease and makes them receptive to what he has to say, ­executing the concerto with a superb sound and well-placed sweetness. Passing from admirable to overwhelming, there is even a little something in my ears that I can hardly define, a kind of brilliance, with sharp harmonics, and a singing strength in the upper register to equal that of the lower. ”

Le Devoir

“The disconcerting ease he has in articulating sentences, the richness of his sonority, the voluptuousness of his playing in all tempos and the coefficients of difficulty, these are all qualities that place him ahead in the world, elite among performers of all ages.”

La Presse

“His playing throughout was immaculate, at once refined and impassioned and characterized by the full use of his bow. Unreserved, he played the violin lovingly and with technical precision. Pouliot is also visually expressive in a distinctive way. When not playing it’s apparent that he’s listening, looking at the orchestra and responding almost as if he’s hearing their part for the first time. The audience, though well-versed in concert etiquette, still couldn’t help but to applaud between movements.”

Arts ATL

“He also displayed a gorgeous high register, ringing notes that resonated beautifully in Overture Hall…The highlight of the evening may have been the second movement of the concerto. Stylistically, this movement resembles Mendelssohn’s well-known “Songs Without Words.” Pouliot tastefully rendered the songful tune and kept the audience hanging on every last note — pure gorgeousness.”

The Capital Times

“Max Bruch’s Scottish Fantasy uses melodies from Scotland as its basis in four movements. Essentially a violin concerto, it featured guest soloist Blake Pouliot, a young Canadian. Pouliot’s violin cast a sweet, lean, silky sound. He seemed effortless in his graceful playing, even in the virtuoso sections of the jolly final movement. Pouliot’s extroverted personality came forth in that movement, showing the pure joy of music making. I couldn’t help but smile in pleasure listening to him.”

Shepherd Express

Described as “immaculate, at once refined and impassioned” (ArtsATL), Toronto-born violinist Blake Pouliot (pool-YACHT) has established himself among the leading violinists of his generation. Praised by the Toronto Star as “one of those special talents that comes along once in a lifetime,” Pouliot pairs commanding technique with an interpretive depth that has made him a sought-after soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician on four continents.

Pouliot’s 2026–27 season features two major orchestral debuts. He launches his engagement with the Kansas City Symphony internationally at Musikfest Berlin, where he joins Music Director Matthias Pintscher for the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto, before making his subscription debut in Kansas City with Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5, “Turkish,” in January. That same month he also debuts with the New Jersey Symphony in the same Mozart concerto under conductor Valentina Peleggi. His collaboration with Pintscher further extends to San Diego, where he joins the San Diego Symphony for Pintscher’s own Assonanza and Ravel’s Tzigane.

In recital, Pouliot tours “Follow the Lieder” with his longtime collaborator, pianist Henry Kramer, featuring the world premiere of Jimmy López’s Memento Mei, a new work for violin and piano co-commissioned by Cal Performances and 92NY, with performances at Cal Performances at UC Berkeley and 92NY in New York. Pouliot also appears as both leader and soloist in two programs: one pairing Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons and Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires for the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, and the other featuring Cameron Wilson’s Canadian Seasons alongside the Orchestre symphonique de Trois-Rivières.

Further engagements this season take Pouliot around the globe: the Prague Philharmonia with Emmanuel Villaume in the Barber Violin Concerto, an appearance with Spain’s ADDA Simfònica Alicante and Josep Vicent in Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1, and his South African debut with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra in the Beethoven Violin Concerto with Pietari Inkinen. Across North America, he performs concertos by Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, and Brahms with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Victoria Symphony, Madison Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony, and Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. As a chamber musician, he reunites with violinist Simone Porter and pianist Hsin-I Huang for “Sounds of California,” presented by Stanford Live and California State University, Northridge, with festival appearances at Toronto Summer Music, ChamberFest West, the Bellingham Festival of Music, La Jolla Music Society’s SummerFest, and Bay Chamber Concerts.

Recent seasons have seen Pouliot open the National Arts Centre Orchestra’s season alongside Music Director Alexander Shelley playing  Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1, tour Spain and the United States with the Prague Philharmonia — culminating in his Stern Auditorium debut at Carnegie Hall — and make debuts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, and the Houston and San Diego symphonies, alongside his 2025 Carnegie Hall recital debut.

As Soloist-in-Residence of Orchestre Métropolitain in 2020–21, Pouliot and Yannick Nézet-Séguin performed Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 and Piazzolla’s The Four Seasons, leading to Pouliot’s 2022 debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra performing John Corigliano’s The Red Violin (Chaconne for Violin and Orchestra) under Nézet-Séguin. Since his orchestral debut at age 11, he has appeared with the orchestras of Aspen, Atlanta, Detroit, Dallas, Madison, Montreal, Toronto, San Francisco, and Seattle, among many others, collaborating with such luminaries as Sir Neville Marriner, Pablo Heras-Casado, JoAnn Falletta, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Matthias Pintscher, Alexander Shelley, and Thomas Søndergaard.

Pouliot’s debut album of 20th-century French music on Analekta Records — featuring Ravel’s Tzigane and Violin Sonata in G, and Debussy’s Violin Sonata in G minor and Beau Soir — received a five-star rating from BBC Music Magazine and a 2019 Juno Award nomination for Best Classical Album.

Pouliot has been featured twice on Rob Kapilow’s What Makes It Great? series and served as NPR’s Performance Today Artist-in-Residence in Minnesota, Hawaii, and across Europe. He won the Grand Prize at the 2016 Orchestre symphonique de Montréal Manulife Competition and was named First Laureate of both the 2015 and 2018 Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank. A graduate of the Colburn School, he studied with Robert Lipsett.

Pouliot performs on the 1729 “Thunis” Stradivarius on generous loan from an anonymous donor.

2026-2027