Daniel Gervais Interview
Daniel Gervais is an award-winning violinist and educator based in Edmonton, Alberta. Born in St. Paul, Gervais first became interested in the fiddle at the age of five, when he saw an elder playing around the campfire. Gervais now has the distinction of being the first and only Albertan to win the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Competition, and the only contestant to ever win both the Championship and the People’s Choice Award. He has competed five times, and is a two-time winner—having won the award in 2011 and 2016. Gervais recently completed his Master’s degree at the University of Alberta, studying classical violin under Dr. Guillaume Tardif. He currently teaches music at MacEwan University in Edmonton, facilitates several festival workshops across Western Canada, and works as a music educator with various organizations such as the National Arts Centre and the North-Eastern Music Association. Gervais continues to tour and perform regularly, both as a solo artist, and with his various bands including Trad’badour with French-Canadian artist Roger Dallaire, and Hot Club Edmonton with guitarist Clint Pelletier.
Career Highlights
Gervais has released four solo albums, Flying Fiddle (2003), Endless Possibilities (2005), Old Red Barn (2013), and Looking Back, 25 Years (2015). He also released Trad’badour in 2009 with his bandmate Roger Dallaire.
In 2007 he released Eclectrip…a Musical Journey with guitarist Clint Pelletier, and later released the self-titled Hot Club Edmonton (2010) with Pelletier, as part of their gyspy-jazz band of the same name.
Gervais has performed all across Canada and internationally, acting as an ambassador for Alberta at the 2012 London Olympics, performing a reception at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and playing at festivals in the United States and France, both as a solo artist and with the French-Canadian dance group, Zéphyr, and Hot Club Edmonton.
During his studies at the University of Alberta, Daniel was awarded a prestigious research grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). He researched Canadian fiddling through the stylings of Alberta folk-fiddler Calvin Vollrath.
In 2002, Gervais was a recipient of the Conservatory Canada Speake Medal of Excellence-Grade 8 Strings. He also received the City of Edmonton Arts and Culture Award in 2007, the Sylvie Van Brabant Award for “Excellence in Artistic Creation” from the Regroupement Artistique Francophone de l'Alberta (RAFA) in 2010, and the Eugène-C. Trottier Award in from the French-Canadian Association of Alberta (ACFA) for community involvement in 2014.
Gervais was nominated for “Young Performer of the Year” at the Canadian Folk Music Awards in 2006, and in 2010 his band Hot Club Edmonton won “Instrumental Album of the Year” at the Western Canadian Music Awards.
Source: https://danielgervais.ca/bio