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Video Interview with Violinist Blake Pouliot: from del Gesù to Strad
At age 32, Canadian violinist Blake Pouliot is on a roll - he just finished a tour that ended in a Carnegie Hall performance with the Prague Philharmonic, and he recently started playing a beautiful 1728 Stradivari violin.
I caught up with him for this interview at the Colburn School, please enjoy! He will give a chamber recital at 4 p.m. on Sunday of works by Franck (of the Piano Quintet!), Debussy, Mozart and Takemitsu.
In our conversation Blake spoke about his path from starting violin as a seven-year-old in Toronto to the international concert stage. We also talked about his love for his alma mater the Colburn School and how the lessons learned from Robert Lipsett still resonate. He also showed us the 1728 Stradivari violin that he has recently started playing and talked about how he has learned to trust his own creative instincts as a performing artist.
Click here for more information about Blake Pouliot's recital at 4 p.m. on Sunday (Feb. 8) at the Colburn School.
You might also like:
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- Canada Council Announces 2018 Instrument Bank Recipients of Violins and Cellos
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Replies
Blake is absolutely charming! And having heard him perform live, I can say he definitely delivers the musical goods. Truly amazing performer! The audience LOVED him.
Another great interview Laurie! Blake is so chill! I especially enjoyed his description of what it was like playing the Guarneri vs the Strad. I find that in a lot of cases the people who are most opinionated about one vs the other have never played either. I wish he could've played a bit for you but I'll search out his playing online.
-M
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February 8, 2026 at 05:05 AM · Blake played the Brahms Double with us last May( Kitchener Waterloo Symphony) with the Heath Guarneri along with the Bonjour Strad Cello played by Bryan Cheng.Fabulous performance and really nice guys.It was an honour to have Tim Bergen in the audience,the master luthier who did extensive work on both instruments( he overhauled my Garimberti a few years before).It was a great night!