Your typical singer-songwriter can be found in bars and intimate concert halls. But Chantal Kreviazuk will tell you she feels right at home hopping stages backed by symphony orchestras across the country.
The division between genres fades when you鈥檙e immersed in the creative process, according to the songstress.
鈥淥n paper, one does not really embrace the other. But on a creative level, anything goes,鈥� she said on the phone from Los Angeles, where she had just dropped off her children 鈥� with husband Raine Maida of Our Lady Peace 鈥� at school.
Kreviazuk, who became known in the 1990s with songs like Believer, Surrounded and Before You, has been crossing genres in a few ways more recently. She performed on hip-hop artist Drake鈥檚 2011 track Over My Dead Body. And this spring, she lent her songwriting abilities to Faith Hill鈥檚 latest country album.
鈥淚t鈥檚 helpful creatively to try and touch on new genres. Now I鈥檓 writing music and making records, I feel the jazz in them and I feel the classical music in them and I feel country music in them and pop and rock and so many different genres,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd we are all of those things. We鈥檙e multi-layered beings.鈥�
Part of Kreviazuk鈥檚 comfort at the symphony lies in her own classical background. She never completed her Royal Conservatory of Music training, but she studied both piano and voice from about age seven to 17, achieving Grade 8 standing, as well as competing regularly at youth festivals in Manitoba.
鈥淚 was a staple in them and I was usually a contender, or the winner,鈥� she said.
When she stopped winning, it became less interesting to her. But she says she鈥檚 grateful that her parents pushed her to continue 鈥� a lesson about work ethic that she now offers others.
鈥淚 had an airline attendant ask the other day, 鈥楥an you write my daughter a note about what it takes?鈥� Something I always try to explain to people, young and old, is that it鈥檚 not enough to have desire and it鈥檚 not enough to have talent. It鈥檚 just not. I was so, so ahead of it on that level 鈥� desire and talent 鈥� for sure, I know that, as a kid,鈥� she said. 鈥淸But] if you don鈥檛 have the technical skills to back up your vision and back up your talent and back up your passion, it doesn鈥檛 mean as much to have those things.鈥�
In the same way that she learned classical music through repetition, she will play a new riff over and over until it sounds just right, she said.
鈥淎s I grow older and older and wiser and wiser, I realize the benefit of practice,鈥� she said. It鈥檚 something she applies beyond music. 鈥淚f you do something a certain amount of times, you become great at it and those muscles become strong and reflective of that practice.鈥�
Her musical aptitude didn鈥檛 only come from formal training, however. Kreviazuk absorbed it from her musical family. 鈥淏oth my grandparents,鈥� she said, 鈥渢hey just played by ear.鈥� She remembers sitting on their laps while they played.
On her mother鈥檚 side, her grandfather played the violin and her grandmother, the harmonica.
鈥淚n the Prohibition era, they would have played together in the hall. And people would have come and brought their own liquor and my grandparents would have played.鈥�
Her paternal grandmother died before Kreviazuk was born, but left an antique upright piano in the farmhouse to play. Every Sunday, the family would gather around it and take turns playing.
鈥淲hen dinner was over, I鈥檇 be back at the piano again.鈥�
In the course of her career, Kreviazuk has had the opportunity to perform with symphony orchestras on many occasions. But having all of her most popular songs arranged, under the direction of multi-instrumentalist Kevin Fox, for a series of symphony concerts is something more unusual. 鈥淚t鈥檚 happened enough that it wasn鈥檛 totally weird, but what was overwhelming was that there was an entire show鈥檚 worth of my songs,鈥� she said.
She enjoys the varied audience it brings 鈥� mixing symphony subscribers with her usual fans. Despite never completing her conservatory training, she says she鈥檚 never received flak from an orchestra musician.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 have my Grade 10. But I鈥檓 a very confident piano player,鈥� she said. 鈥淚f there鈥檚 a lot of things that aren鈥檛 great, one thing that I鈥檓 really confident about is sitting at a piano and playing and singing.鈥�
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