Michel Lemieux

Michel Lemieux (born February 13, 1959) is a Canadian multimedia artist from Quebec,^[1] whose career has incorporated work in theatrical design, installation art, film, video, dance and music.^[2] First coming to prominence in the early 1980s as a performance artist whose work explored the integration of new media technologies into experimental pop music in a manner similar to Peter Gabriel and Laurie Anderson,^[3] more recently he has concentrated primarily on creating, designing, directing and producing multimedia theatrical presentations for events, theatrical companies and other artists.

A 1979 graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada,^[2] Lemieux composed music for dance and theatrical troupes including La La La Human Steps,^[4] and did performance art work in Montreal before breaking through to wider success with his 1984 show Solide Salade.^[2] The show, a complex performance piece which incorporated film and video projections, music, dance and visual and lighting design,^[5] had a successful sold-out run in Montreal before touring venues across North America, Europe and Japan.^[6]

In 1986, Lemieux performed the show at Expo 86,^[7] and signed to the record label Audiogram,^[8] with whom he released a self-titled album of songs from Solide Salade.^[9] He won the CASBY Award for Most Promising Male Vocalist,^[10] was nominated for the Juno Award for Most Promising Male Vocalist at the Juno Awards of 1986,^[11] and garnered two Prix Félix nominations for Best English-Language Pop/Rock Album and Best Video ("Romantic Complications").^[12]

In 1988, he premiered his new show Mutations at the arts festival of the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta,^[13] and released the album Taming the Power Inside.^[14] He toured Mutations across Canada,^[15] and at World Expo 88 in Australia.^[16] Taming the Power Inside was again a Félix nominee for Best English Pop/Rock Album.^[17]

In 1990, he premiered his first works co-created with Victor Pilon instead of as a solo artist; Pilon has since been Lemieux's creative and business partner in most of his subsequent work.^[18] Their first works together were Lemieux's new performance piece Free Fall,^[3] and Le Souffle de Pythagore, a holographic video dance work which was Lemieux's first work created for another performer.^[19] In 1991, Lemieux and Pilon created In Mid Air, a theatrical piece about the then-imminent transfer of Hong Kong from British to Chinese control which was created for Hong Kong's Festival 2000.^[20]

In 1992, Lemieux and Pilon created Têtes Chercheuses, a commissioned performance piece for the 25th anniversary of Montreal's Saidye Bronfman Centre,^[21] and created and designed concert performances for UZEB^[22] and Michel Rivard,^[20] while Lemieux collaborated with Richard Blackburn on the design and staging of the parade to kick off Montreal's 350th anniversary celebrations.^[23]

Lemieux and Pilon have since collaborated on works including Grand Hôtel des Étrangers,^[20] the stage design and direction of the Prix Félix ceremony in 1995, theatrical adaptations of Jean Cocteau's Orféo,^[24] William Shakespeare's The Tempest^[18] and Luc Plamondon's Starmania, and Cirque du Soleil's 2006 show Delirium.^[18]

Lemieux was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2012,^[25] and a Chévalier of the National Order of Quebec in 2014.^[26]

Lemieux is openly gay.^[27] He has stated that while his work addresses universal themes rather than gay-specific ones, he does consider his sexuality to influence his creative perspective.^[27]

• Le Tympan de la Cantatrice (1982)
• L'Oeil rechargeable/The Rechargeable Eye (1983)^[2]
• Solide salade (1984)
• Mutations (1988)
• Free Fall / Voix de passage (1990)

• Le Souffle de Pythagore (1990)
• In Mid Air (1991)
• Têtes Chercheuses (1992)
• Act of Faith / Feux sacrés (1993)
• Grand Hôtel des Étrangers (1994)
• Territoire Intérieur / À mille lieux (1994)
• Hommage à la musique du Cirque du Soleil (1995)
• Reach for the Stars / La route des étoiles (1995)
• Pôles (1996)
• Time Travel / Voyage dans le temps (1997)
• Orféo (1998)
• Harmony 2000 (1999)
• Ocean of Hope / Océan d’espoir (1999)
• Translucide (2000)
• This is a Sphere (2000)
• Anima (2002)
• The Planets (2003)
• Soleil de minuit (2004)
• La Tempête (2005)
• Delirium (2006)
• NORMAN (2007)
• Starmania Opéra (2008)
• La Belle et la Bête (2011)
• Continuum – Planetarium Rio Tinto and Espace pour la vie (2013)
• Dreamscapes (2014)
• ICARUS (2014)
• Cité Mémoire (2016)

• Michel Lemieux (1986)
• Taming the Power Inside (1987)

• Official website