Maxime Goulet (born June 7, 1980) is a Canadian composer, who writes concert music for orchestra and scores for video games.
Early life and education Maxime Goulet was born and raised in Montreal, Canada to a French speaking family. He studied music composing at Université de Montréal with Alan Belkin. He earned his B. Mus. in 2005 and his Master's degree in 2007. Later, he attended several trainings and master classes, namely at the Festival international du film d'Aubagne in 2007, and the ASCAP Film Scoring Workshop, with Richard Bellis in Los Angeles in 2009.
Career Concert music The concert music of Maxime Goulet has been performed by a wide range of ensembles and musicians in countries around the world, including the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Vancouver Opera, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Liège, the Houston Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, and many others.
Maxime Goulet's works often explore themes of daily life and playfulness: Symphonic Chocolates evokes various chocolate flavours, Checkmate! is structured as a chess match between a piano and an orchestra, Symphonic Aerobic Dance is a workout for orchestra, On Halloween Night evokes creatures associated with Halloween, A Bassoon Circus is composed as circus acts and Fishing Story evokes a fishing trip.
His other works are often inspired by historical events: Ice Storm Symphony commemorates the 25th anniversary of the 1998 historical ice storm in Canada, United Anthems celebrates the 150th anniversary of Canada , Symphonic Factory celebrates the 375th anniversary of the City of Montreal, and Citius, Altius, Fortius! celebrates the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
The album Maxime Goulet: Symphonie de la tempête du verglas, recorded by the Orchestre classique de Montréal won a Juno Award in the category "Classical Album of the Year (Large Ensemble)".
In 2026, Maxime Goulet was awarded the Opus Prize for Composer of the Year. That same year, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra's concert presenting his work Le Carnaval des insectes received the Opus Prize for Production of the Year, Young Audiences.
Video game music Between 2007 and 2013, Maxime Goulet has been staff composer for Gameloft. During his tenure, he wrote music for video games such as Brothers in Arms 3: Sons of War, The Amazing Spiderman, Dungeon Hunter: Alliance, Dungeon Hunter 4, Order & Chaos Online, Wild Blood, Shrek Forever After and Iron Man 2.
Since 2013, Maxime Goulet has been working as a freelance video game composer. He has composed music for games such as Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade, Roller Coaster Tycoon World and Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey.
In 2017, along with Orchestre Métropolitain and conductor Dina Gilbert, he created The Montreal Video Game Symphony, a multimedia concert that features music of games developed in the city of Montreal
List of works List of concert music composition by Maxime Goulet.
Orchestral works 2007: A Puppet Parade 2008: Citius, altius, fortius! 2012: Symphonic Aerobic Dance 2012: Symphonic Chocolates 2014: On Halloween Night 2017: United Anthems 2017: Symphonic Factory 2017: Beach Ball Games for Orchestra 2023: Ice Storm Symphony 2024: The Carnival of the Insects
Concertante 2014: Fishing Story for Clarinet and String Orchestra 2016: Beatles Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra 2017: A Bassoon Circus for Bassoon and Orchestra 2018: Checkmate! for Piano and Orchestra
Operas 2012: Bungalopolis (collective work) 2020: The Flight of the Hummingbird
Chamber music 2004: Watercolour for Piano 2005: The Wool-Spinning Devil for Narrator, Clarinet, Cello and Piano 2006: On a Tightrope for String Quartet 2011: What a Day for String Orchestra 2014: Concertized Introductions for String Orchestra 2015: Level Up! for Keyboard and String Orchestra 2020: Micro météo for Tenor and Piano
Discography
Chocolats Symphoniques, Prague Filmharmonic, 2014. Au grand orgue Pierre-Béique, Jean-Willy Kunz, ATMA Music, 2017. Les plaisirs coupables, Orchestre symphonique de Sherbrooke, 2017. Canada Mosaic - Sesquies, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, 2018. Maxime Goulet: Symphonie de la tempête de verglas, Orchestre Classique de Montréal, ATMA Music, 2023.
List of game music List of video games for which Maxime Goulet has composed music (as main composer or as additional music composer).
Video gamesYearTitleDeveloperNotes2007Schlag den RaabGameloft2008Prince of Persia ZeroGameloftAbracadaballGameloftUnoGameloft2009Tank BattlesGameloftGhost Mansion PartyGameloftCastle FrenzyGameloftSiberian StrikeGameloft2010Dungeon Hunter 2GameloftShrek Forever AfterGameloftIron Man 2GameloftBrothers in Arms 2: Global FrontGameloftLegend of ExidiaGameloftEternal LegacyGameloft2011Dungeon Hunter 3GameloftDungeon Hunter: AllianceGameloftOrder & Chaos OnlineGameloftBackStabGameloftThe Adventures of TintinGameloft2012The Amazing Spider-ManGameloftIce Age VillageGameloft2013Dungeon Hunter 4GameloftWonder ZooGameloft2014Wild BloodGameloftBrothers in Arms 3: Sons of WarGameloftThe Amazing Spider-Man 2GameloftMagical World of WordsAmarok Games2015Splash PopFrima2016Warhammer 40,000: Eternal CrusadeBehaviour InteractiveRoller Coaster Tycoon WorldNvizzio & Atari2017Rise of MadnessAmarok GamesMini GunsRiposte Games 2019Ancestors: The Humankind OdysseyPanache Digital GamesAdditional music by Maxime Goulet (on an original theme by Mamo Koba)2023One More Gate: A Wakfu LegendAnkama
References
External links Official website Symphonic Chocolates Montreal Video Game Symphony The Flight of the Hummingbird