While it may seem as though Blake Pouliot has been solely committed to his instrument from a young age, there was a moment where the violinist nearly changed his onset career to acting. Throughout childhood, Pouliot decided to explore all artistic forms and added theater to his list of creative outlets.
The violinist speaks of this experience in an interview with Classical MPR: “I had been playing violin since I was seven years old, but I quit for a while when I was about thirteen, fourteen, when I was in middle school. And I decided to pursue acting for a while. I thought that it was really exciting, really fun, and I kind of wanted to try it out. And after doing that for about a year and a half, I slowly started to realize that it wasn’t the actual acting that I was starting to enjoy — it was actually the performance. However, I found out that I actually didn’t like playing characters; I realized that the best feeling I could ever get was performing as myself. And so then I started to pick up violin again; I was inspired to practice a lot more, and this has been where my career has been heading, you know, that’s what I want to do.”
Although acting is now more of a hobby for Pouliot, he claims that the improv aspect has helped him immensely with his career. The ability to think on the spot and react to spontaneous changes has prepared him for interviews, and has given him the courage to perform in front of thousands of people without fear.
Blake Pouliot will be making his MSO debut with Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto March 6, 7, and 8. If you’d like to purchase tickets to “The Miracle” or any other 2019–2020 Symphony Season concerts, single tickets are on sale now.