biography

Despite her young age, pianist, keyboardist and composer Julie Lamontagne has already traced a successful and fascinating career path. She began playing the piano at the age of eight, and was soon exploring many different types of music and a wide variety of formations and instruments. Possessing a solid classical background, and winner of numerous awards (including a First Prize at the prestigious Canadian Music Competition at the age of thirteen), she decided early on to explore other musical styles. After playing flute, saxophone and even Latin percussions for several years, she decided to return to her first love, the piano, immersing herself into the worlds of jazz and pop music, alternating between keyboards and acoustic piano.

Inspired by the great Montreal jazz pianists, Julie is a former student of Lorraine Desmarais, André White and Jan Jarczyk. She continues to hone her considerable talents at New York's Manhattan School of Music with Garry Dial thanks to a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. She has also received funding from the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec to study with the excellent pianist Fred Hersch.

Julie has appeared with Denny Christianson's Big Band, Tony Royster Jr., Guy Nadon, Éval Manigat, Monica Freire and many others. As bandleader and keyboardist for Isabelle Boulay, Julie Lamontagne regularly accompanies the singer on tour in Quebec and Europe, as well as on numerous television and radio programs, and is featured on her albums. She also plays keyboards for a number of other artists including Bruno Pelletier and Térez Montcalm, and can be heard on their most recent albums. She participated in Nanette Workman's latest album Vanilla Blues Café, as both musician and arranger on the piece Lost my Baby.

Also active as a composer, she recently wrote the theme music for Radio-Canada's Espace Musique network, broadcast across the country. In collaboration with the Montreal jazz label Effendi, Julie decided that her first trio album Facing the truth would consist entirely of her own original compositions. She embarks upon her new jazz career with great relish, pursuing it side by side with her already very successful career in pop music. The jazz part certainly got off to an excellent start when she received the award for Best New Artist following a performance with her trio at the 2003 OFF Festival de Jazz de Montréal.