BIOGRAPHY


Canadian classical guitarist Sébastien Deshaies was born in Montreal in 1980. At the age of nine, he began his first guitar lessons with Mario Roy. Five years later, he studied the classical guitar at the Trois-Rivières Conservatory of Music with Marcel Benoît and subsequently at the Drummondville College for three more years. He also received further training from Bruno Perron (University of Montreal) and Isabelle Héroux (Laval University).

Among his most important awards are:
First Prize Winner in his category at the National Final of the Canadian Music Competitions (Montreal, 1997)
Prize for Musical Expression, Cégep de Sherbrooke (Sherbrooke, 1998)
First Prize Winner, Concours Guitare-Drumond (Drummondville, 1999)
Laureate, Grands Prix culturels de Trois-Rivières « arts de la scène Louis-Philippe Poisson » (Trois-Rivières, 2013 and 2005)
Laureate,«Prix Arts Excellence » for the project « Grands Concerts 2nd edition » (Mauricie, 2014)

He has already participated in the recordings of 14 albums among which are his two solo albums « Œuvres pour guitare seule / Works for solo guitar » in 2010 and « La Guitare au Sud » in 2018, a magnificent musical journey to the south of different countries and no doubt a must for all classical music lovers.

Three times grant holder from the Quebec Arts and Letters Council for the making of special cultural projects in his hometown.
In June 2012, he produced 8 concerts within 10 days with internationally known Italian classical guitarist and composer Marcos Vinicius.
In March, 2013 Sébastien Deshaies became the very first Canadian classical guitarist invited to participate in the 24th international Guitar Festival ICPNA in Lima, Peru.

In October 2015, he performed at the Entrecuerdas International Guitar Festival in Chile.

Since 2007, he has formed the Duo Contra-Danza with clarinetist Denis Doucet and both have presented over 200 shows of a concert entitled “Le Voyage Virtuose”. In 2022, he joined the MG3 founding members: Montréal Guitare Trio, allowing him to explore new musical horizons.

In addition to his performances as a soloist, he frequently shares the stage with other very talented musicians. Sébastien is also interested in the traditional music of the world in particular those of Québec, Ireland and Scotland.

Sébastien Deshaies has delighted audiences several times in his hometown and throughout the Province of Quebec and he has also toured elsewhere namely in Canada (BC, ON), U.S.A, Chile, France, Peru and Mexico.

Sébastien Deshaies plays on 2003 and 2018 guitars made by René Wilhelmy.