Biography
Benoît Charest is a Canadian guitarist and film score composer from Quebec. He was born in Montreal on 16 July 1964 and began playing guitar at the age of 13. He later studied jazz privately and earned a living performing with Montreal jazz musicians during his college years. His first film score was for the 1991 National Film Board of Canada documentary Montréal rétro.
Charest is best known for the soundtrack to the animated film The Triplets of Belleville (2003). The score won a César Award for Best Music Written for a Film, and the song "Belleville Rendez-vous" received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. He performed the song at the 76th Academy Awards with vocalist Béatrice Bonifassi. Other notable scores include Polytechnique (2009), Route 132 (2010) and Upside Down (2012).
