Blake Pouliot

Described as “immaculate, at once refined and impassioned” (ArtsAtlanta), violinist Blake Pouliot has anchored himself among the ranks of classical phenomes. A tenacious young artist with a passion that enraptures his audience in every performance, Pouliot has established himself as “one of those special talents that comes along once in a lifetime” (Toronto Star). 

As a soloist, Blake Pouliot’s 2025/26 concerto highlights include a return to National Ars Centre Orchestra to open their season with Music Director Alexander Shelley, performing Dmitri Shostakovich Violin Concerto No. 1. He will make debuts with the Illinois Symphony, performing Miklós Rózsa’s Violin Concerto with Music Director Taichi Fukumura, and with Columbus Symphony, performing the Violin Concerto by Erich Wolfgang Korngold with conductor Josep Vicent. Additional concerto appearances include Rochester Philharmonic, as well as a tour with the Prague Philharmonia in Spain and the U.S., culminating with a performance at Carnegie Hall, marking Blake Pouliot’s Stern Auditorium debut. Recital appearances this season include Newport Classical, Vancouver Chamber Music Society, Artist Series of Sarasota, and Portland Ovations with his long-time collaborator and pianist, Henry Kramer. 

Since his orchestral debut at age 11, Pouliot has performed with the orchestras of Aspen, Atlanta, Detroit, Dallas, Madison, Montreal, Toronto, San Francisco, and Seattle, among many others. He has collaborated with many musical luminaries including conductors Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Matthias Pintscher, Sir Neville Marriner, David Afkham, Pablo Heras-Casado, JoAnn Falletta, Marcelo Lehninger, Vasily Petrenko and Thomas Søndergård.     

Pouliot has been featured twice on Rob Kapilow’s What Makes it Great? series and has been NPR’s Performance Today Artist-in-Residence in Minnesota (2017/18), Hawaii (2018/19), and across Europe (2021/22). Prior to that, he won the Grand Prize at the 2016 Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal Manulife Competition and was named First Laureate of both the 2018 and 2015 Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank. 

Pouliot performs on the 1729 Guarneri del Gesù on generous loan from an anonymous donor.