Yanik Giroux - Stage & Studio

The adventure of the French Canadian guy who wanted to sing in english and learn to "Song & Dance" !

I am originally from Drummondville Québec (actually, Saint-Germain-de-Grantham, but nobody has the slightest idea where that is!), have have been living on the West Coast since 1999. How time flies!

I grew up with music around me, but never thought I would end up being a full time musician/performer and making a living at it. Life works in mysterious ways sometimes...

I started piano at the age of 9, then played clarinet through high school, always involved in concert bands, jazz ensembles and music festivals (my gosh, I was a band geek!), and eventually made it to college where I studied classical singing. It is at that time that I saw my first musical, The Phantom of the Opera, and discovered musical theatre, and that, well, changed everything!

From there, theatre and the performing arts took a bigger place in my heart and... my already busy life! I continued my training at the University of Montreal, working on my degree in vocal performance, while also taking drama classes at the Conservatoire d'Art Dramatique de Montréal and dance classes at École de Danse Louise Lapierre. I was in school full time and working on stage and television projects, but that wasn't enough. At the end of my university program, I auditioned for the Canadian College of Performing Arts to fulfill my desire to do musical theatre and got in. That is when my West Coast adventure started!

From there, I completed a very intense year of training at the Canadian College of Performing Arts, followed by a year-long acting internship program at the Chemainus Theatre and a few years of performing with companies such as Pacific Opera Victoria, Belfry Theatre, Langham Court Theatre, Butchart Gardens, Theatre North West, and Kaleidoscope Theatre to name a few.

Over the years, while still enjoying some performing, I started doing more and more teaching and directing, which I had always done and enjoyed. Eventually, natural progression for the entrepreneur in me, I opened my own studio, the Yanik Giroux Performing Arts Studio, specializing in Musical Theatre and Contemporary Commercial Music.

I continue my training by taking classes, and attending conferences and seminars as an active member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing.

Performing will always provide its thrill of jumping on stage and facing an eager audience, but teaching provides me with a greater rewarding feeling that I can share my passion for music and the arts and hopefully make a difference in the lives of my students by providing opportunities for them to grow through music.

Oh and through all that, I finally got a decent grasp of the english language! :)