"Composing is like dancing with the universe, a perpetual movement creating an ever-changing dance. Music in all its senses is precisely what it implies-that music is an experience that touches every sense. It can move you to tears, bring joy to your heart, stir sexual passion, evoke memories, and prompt physical responses of all kinds."
As a musical director and composer, Benoit Jutras has created works that engage the spectator's and music lover's every sense. Besides composing the music for the Cirque du Soleil shows Quidam, "O" and La Nouba, he wrote the scores for the Imax film Cirque du Soleil Journey of Man (a Sony Pictures Classics and Cirque du Soleil co-production) and the full-length feature version of Alegria, directed by Franco Dragone. Even before creating these five productions, Benoit Jutras was a valuable player at Cirque du Soleil.
He started his career with the organization in 1987 as musical director, working for three years on the We Reinvent the Circus tour and going on to become musical director and co-composer for the show's 1990 European Tour. In tandem with René Dupéré, he composed the musical scores for Mystère and Fascination. He also wrote some of the music and handled the musical direction for the show presented by Cirque du Soleil at the G7 Summit in Halifax in 1995.
In 1996, Benoit Jutras was named Best Circus Composer at the Festival international du Cirque de Monte-Carlo. The award recognized his outstanding work as composer and musical director for a joint show by Cirque du Soleil and Cirque Knie presented in Switzerland.
In 2000, he scored the music for the Italian production of Francesco il musical, based on the life and times of St. Francis of Assisi. The show was staged in the town of Assisi to mark the advent of the new millennium.
Benoit Jutras holds a master's degree in composition from the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, which awarded him two major prizes.