Maxime Goulet (born June 7, 1980) is a Montreal-based Canadian composer who writes concert music as well as video game soundtracks. He currently teaches composition at the University of Sherbrooke. in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...

, Canada.

Early life and education

Maxime Goulet was born and raised in

Montreal, Canada Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-p ...

to a French speaking family. He studied music composing at Université de Montréal with Alan Belkin. He earned his B. Mus. in 2005 and his

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in 2007. Later, he attended several trainings and master classes, namely at the Festival international du film d'Aubagne in 2007, and the

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

Film Scoring Workshop, with Richard Bellis in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

in 2009.

Career

Concert music

The concert music of Maxime Goulet has been performed by a wide range of ensembles and musicians in countries around the world, including the

Montreal Symphony Orchestra The Montreal Symphony Orchestra (french: Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, or OSM) is a Canadian symphony orchestra based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The orchestra’s home is the Montreal Symphony House at Place des Arts. It is the only orc ...

, the

Toronto Symphony Orchestra The Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Toronto, Ontario. Founded in 1906, the TSO gave regular concerts at Massey Hall until 1982, and since then has performed at Roy Thomson Hall. The TSO also manages the Toron ...

, the Vancouver Opera, the

Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège The Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège (OPRL) (Liège Royal Philharmonique in English) is a Belgian symphony orchestra, based in Liège. The primary concert venue and administrative base of the OPRL is the ''Salle Philharmonique de Liège' ...

, the Houston Symphony, the

Vancouver Symphony Orchestra The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (VSO) is a Canadian orchestra based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The VSO performs at the Orpheum, which has been the orchestra's permanent home since 1977. With an annual operating budget of $16 million, it is ...

, the Orchestre Régional de Basse Normandie, the National Art Center Orchestra, the Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, the

Orchestre Métropolitain The Orchestre Métropolitain (OM) is a symphony orchestra in Montréal, Québec, formed in 1981. It performs primarily in the Montreal Symphony House at Place des Arts but also at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier and Théâtre Maisonneuve. Outside the c ...

, the Pacific Opera Victoria, the Ensemble Symphonique Neuchâtel,

Angèle Dubeau Angèle Dubeau, (born 24 March 1962) is a Canadian classical violinist. She has devoted a large part of her career to making classical music accessible to a wide audience, but also frequently plays works by contemporary composers. Early life ...

& La Pietà. Some of Goulet's works entered David Daniels' Orchestral Music Handbook. In 2008, the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra commissions him the

overture Overture (from French ''ouverture'', "opening") in music was originally the instrumental introduction to a ballet, opera, or oratorio in the 17th century. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn composed over ...

''Citius, Altius, Fortius!'' to celebrate the 2010

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

. In 2017, the work is featured on the album ''Les plaisirs coupables'' of the

Sherbrooke Symphony Orchestra Sherbrooke Symphony Orchestra (OSS) (french: L'Orchestre symphonique de Sherbrooke), is a symphony orchestra based in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, with Université de Sherbrooke as its home. History The orchestra's first performance took place o ...

, as well as on the album ''Jean-Willy Kunz: Au grand orgue Pierre-Béique'', published at ATMA Classique. In 2011–2012, as part of the Brott Music Festival, he was Composer-in-Residence for the National Academy Orchestra of Canada. During his residency, he composed ''Symphonic Chocolates'', an orchestral suite meant to accompany chocolate tasting. In 2014, the work is recorded by the Prague FILMharmonic orchestra and released on the album ''Chocolats symphoniques''. In 2013–2014, he was Composer-in-Residence for McGill Chamber Orchestra. During his residency, he composed the clarinet concerto Fishing Story. In 2017, he composed a movement of the collective work ''La Symphonie d'Hochelaga'', commissioned for the 375th anniversary of Montreal and premiered by

. That same year, he was also commissioned, for the 150th anniversary of Canada, to compose ''United Anthems'', an orchestral

mashup Mashup may refer to: * Mashup (culture), the rearrangement of spliced parts of musical pieces as part of a subculture * Mashup (education), combining various forms of data and media by a teacher or student in an instructional setting * Mashup (mus ...

of 35 national anthems from around the world, as part of a Canada-wide project launched by the

. In 2018, he composed a piano concerto titled ''Checkmate'' and inspired by the legendary 1996 match, in which IBM's

Deep Blue Deep Blue may refer to: Film * '' Deep Blues: A Musical Pilgrimage to the Crossroads'', a 1992 documentary film about Mississippi Delta blues music * ''Deep Blue'' (2001 film), a film by Dwight H. Little * ''Deep Blue'' (2003 film), a film us ...

computer defeated former world chess champion

Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born 13 April 1963) is a Russian chess Grandmaster (chess), grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist and commentator. His peak Elo rating system, rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the hi ...

. It was commissioned and premiered by the

River Oaks Chamber Orchestra Roco, based in Salzburg, Austria, is a manufacturer of model railway equipment. History The company was founded in 1960 by Ing. Heinz Rössler and started with a plastic Minitanks series of military vehicles. After export to the USA became suc ...

and pianist Lara Downes. His opera ''The Flight of the Hummingbird'', on a libretto by Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas and Barry Gilson, commissioned by the Vancouver Opera and the Pacific Opera Victoria, was premiered in 2020. In 2020, he published the song cycle ''Micro Meteo'' as a series of short videos

Video game music

Between 2007 and 2013, Maxime Goulet has been staff composer for Gameloft. During his tenure, he wrote music for video games such as '' Brothers in Arms 3: Sons of War'', '' The Amazing Spiderman'', '' Dungeon Hunter: Alliance'', ''Dungeon Hunter 4', Order & Chaos Online, Wild Blood, Shrek Forever After'' and ''Iron Man 2''. Since 2013, Maxime Goulet has been working as a freelance video game composer. He has composed music for games such as '' Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade'', '' Roller Coaster Tycoon World'' and '' Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey''. In 2017, along with Orchestre Métropolitain and conductor Dina Gilbert, he created The Montreal Video Game Symphony, a multimedia concert that features music of games developed in the city of Montreal

List of works

A selection of concert music composition by Maxime Goulet.

Orchestral works

*2007: A Puppet Parade *2008: ''Citius, altius, fortius!'' *2012: Symphonic Aerobic Dance *2012: Symphonic Chocolates *2014: On Halloween Night *2017: United Anthems *2017: Symphonic Factory *2017: Beach Ball Games for Orchestra *2023: Ice Storm Symphony

Concertante

*2014: Fishing Story for Clarinet and String Orchestra *2016: Beatles Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra *2017: A Bassoon Circus for Bassoon and Orchestra *2018: Checkmate! for Piano and Orchestra

Operas

*2012: Bungalopolis (collective work) *2020: The Flight of the Hummingbird

Chamber music

*2004: Watercolour for Piano *2005: The Wool-Spinning Devil for Narrator, Clarinet, Cello and Piano *2006: On a Tightrope for String Quartet *2011: What a Day for String Orchestra *2014: Concertized Introductions for String Orchestra *2015: Level Up! for Keyboard and String Orchestra *2020: ''Micro météo'' for Tenor and Piano

List of game music

A selection of video games for which Maxime Goulet has composed music (as main composer or as additional music composer).

References

External links

Official website

Symphonic Chocolates

Montreal Video Game Symphony

The Flight of the Hummingbird
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goulet, Maxime 1980 births Living people 21st-century Canadian composers Video game composers Academic staff of the Université de Sherbrooke Musicians from Montreal Canadian classical composers Université de Montréal alumni