Gentiane MG's Jazz Trio Opens Montreal Festival With New Album

Gentiane Michaud-Gagnon, performing as Gentiane MG, is opening the 46th Festival international de jazz de Montréal on Thursday night from her adopted city's esplanade Tranquille—just a twenty-minute walk from her home.

The Montreal-based pianist's recent album, Can You Hear the Birds?, draws from a lifetime of observation rooted in childhood memories in the Saguenay. "I was much in my own world, and I have memories of being at the piano looking out the window at the trees, the birds," she said. "That imaginary world you conceive from observations of nature—that's what will unfold Thursday evening."

Gentiane MG's introspective, melodic approach to jazz—sophisticated yet grounded in song structure—has found its strongest audience in Europe, where she regularly performs in Germany, Italy, France, and Poland with her trio: Levi Dover on bass and Mark Nelson on drums. They spent April touring the continent, introducing European audiences to the new album.

While her music sits at the intersection of traditional jazz and subtle experimentation, it resists easy categorization. In Europe, where avant-garde jazz thrives, she's often labeled "mainstream." In Montreal, critics see her as left-field. The truth is somewhere in between—melodically driven but unafraid of dissonance, classically influenced (she loves Chopin and Schubert) but fully jazz-grounded.

Tracks like Two Lives One Heart shimmer with fluidity, while Speak Up and Smile ventures into modern jazz territory. Sœur orchidée, a piece inspired by a close friend's resilience through hardship, begins as solo piano and has resonated widely on streaming platforms, crossing over between classical and jazz listeners. Gentiane MG's opening-night set will showcase this range.