Benoit Charest Ben Charest is an Oscar nominee composer from Montreal. He has written over 20 film scores. He is mostly known for his 2004 Triplets of Belleville score that has earned him many awards. Besides being a versatile composer, Ben is an accomplished jazz guitarist and performs regularly with some of Montreal’s finest musicians. Like many teenagers of his time, Ben picked up the guitar at age 13 learning Beatles and Led Zeppelin tunes. He then took on private guitar lessons and went on to further his musical studies at McGill and Montreal universities. He then learned his trade touring as a sideman with various bands in Quebec and abroad. Ben wrote his first score in 1992 for an NFB documentary. He is presently involved in writing music for his jazz organ trio and touring with the “Terrible orchestre de Belleville”. A cine-concert in which an 8-piece band play in-sync the score to the “Triplets of Belleville” movie. Ben keeps up with his trade on a daily basis by staying in sync with the fast changing realities of the music world.
In 2003, the animated French feature film, The Triplets of Belleville swept the globe, raking up dozens of awards and nominations – not to mention the hearts of countless admirers – along the way. Much of it came down to the Oscar-nominated score by Benoit Charest, which grabbed the audience by the ears and dragged them into the streets of 1920’s Paris and Le Jazz Hot.
This live jazz orchestra performance of the original score, conducted by Benoit Charest, accompanies a live screening of the beloved film. Saddle up, for the misadventures of a kidnapped Tour de France cyclist, his would-be rescuer grandmother and the titular trio of larger-than life divas, all accompanied by the speakeasy-slick sounds of un orchestre sans pareil
"(Triplets of Belleville) Extraordinary!... A bracing blend of silliness and sophistication! It's comic, touching and a visual knockout."
“ (Triplets of Belleville) Best animated feature and best original song.”
The great success of The Triplets of Belleville, first as an academy award-nominated film (Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song) and second as a live touring film/music experience is well-remembered by a generation of film lovers, jazz lovers, cycling fans and Francophiles.
PRESS
The Triplets of Belleville
“This production was a feast for the senses as, although there was only eight on stage, you could be mistaken for thinking there was a full orchestra in the room.”
- Broadway World
The Triplets of Belleville
“ The Triplets of Belleville is a gloriously oddball animation, adorned with superb songs that glitter like lights on the Seine and clatter like old cars on cobblestones. ”
-The Age
The Triplets of Belleville
“It's all terrific fun. The playful band is totally at home with the material... ”
