Viviane Houle

"Houle not only owns the many avant vocal styles on display here, she has something unique — sometimes stunningly brilliant — to bring to each of them."
- The Squid's Ear

"Intimate, eerie, electrifying, Treize is a tour de force of vocal improvisation. ...an auspicious debut recording from an attention-riveting artist."
- Exclaim!

"throwing dictionaries out of windows, the sound of a trombone digging up a grave, ripping out everybody's larynx with your bare hands...a genius example of this audacious approach to music...one of the year’s best albums."
- CokeMachineGlow

"Houle warbles and scats like some demented cross between Yma Sumac and Slim Gaillard, but also does the Phil Minton thing of squeezing non-musical grunts and sighs from a closed larynx."
- The Sound Projector

"[Louis Andriessen] was then joined on stage by Vancouver’s powerful and unmatched Viviane Houle. It turns out that she embodies a kind of Kiri Te Kanawa who has swallowed the DNA of Yma Sumac. The heights of Houle’s vocal folds are stratospheric. We get grand opera, French chanteuse, and abstruse, cryptic, and arcane contemporary classic singer capable of anything deeply vocal."
- Vancouver Observer

april in paris ...

Spring is almost here on the coast - crocuses almost blooming. I just might be in Paris in April. I received a second grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to study with Phil Minton , Iva Bittova as well as with some local Vancouver improvisers. I'm still in blissful shock. This grant fits nicely with my recording grant which will be duets with 12 improvisers. This is supposed to be a great year for us Taurus folk. Looks great so far.
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Anyway, I'm hoping to study with Phil Minton in Paris, France at the end of April. He'll be teaching a 3-day workshop with one of his Feral Choirs (improvising choirs). I hope to be part of the choir and then also have some one-on-one sessions with Phil.

Stydying with Iva Bittova will be amazing too! That might take me to New York. We haven't set the date or place for that yet.

Starting to meet with the players for my duet album. Not sure where it will all end up but I'm loving the process!

Until next,

Viviane

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