Mimi Blais
Mimi Blais is a French-Canadian pianist, composer and a comedy actress with a special interest in ragtime and funny stage show. She was named "Female Victor Borge ," the " Celine Dion of keyboard instruments ", and the " Franko Canadian Liberace ," but they would be most concerned about the name " Queen of Ragtime ."
Mimi began playing the piano at the age of seven years. She gave her first concert at age nine. She studied at the Conservatory of Music in Quebec and McGill University. Soon they broadened their areas of interest in folk music, jazz, modern, blues, tango and even ragtime. She played ragtime concerts in Canada, the United States and worldwide, " where she received a standing ovation after the next. "
Mimi loves the theatrical. She often uses costumes or invents characters to recycle their concerts for the eye and make it more lively. When she enters the stage, the audience is sometimes not even sure that it is.
Mimi wrote two one-woman shows in which she shows her multifaceted talent ". An Afternoon With Jean -Baptiste Lafrenière " "Once Upon A Time, Ragtime, " which shows the importance of ragtime for the American musical culture, and
She took ten music albums with various composers such as Scott Joplin, Tom Turpin, Eubie Blake, Zez Confrey, " Jelly Roll " Morton, Jean -Baptiste Lafrenière, André Gagnon, Cecil Macklin, Joseph Lamb, George Gershwin, Dave Brubeck, Claude Debussy. These albums include the following title:
- " Ragtime " (1992),
- " Geraldine " (1993),
- "Taxi " (1998),
- " Old Rags - New Rags " (2000),
- "Made in Quebec " (2002, with the participation of violinist Sophie Rivard )
- "Sunday Morning " (2004),
- " Mimi Blais André Gagnon Listens " ( ADISQ - 2004),
- " Once Upon a Time Rag " ( ADISQ -2005, with the participation of pianist John Petley ), and
- "Life Is A Dream" (2006), the classic music and some of Mimi's non- ragtime compositions imagine.
2005/2006 Mimi received an award from the " Canada Council for the Arts " to make a research to the Canadian Ragtime; soon to a book and a set of CDs with this topic appear.
Mimi Blais says that ragtime was the most important music in America. " Ragtime is the trunk of a big tree! " ( " Ragtime is the trunk of a large tree " ).