About
Musician, composer, & visual artist Darren Poirier was born on the beautiful island of Cape-Breton on the East Coast of Canada…an area rich in both Scottish and Acadian music traditions. He fell in love with Music and the guitar at a very young age, listening to radio, his older sisters’ records, and his brother-in-law Denis occasionally playing an acoustic guitar around the house.
Driven by a strong desire to expand beyond his small town origins, Darren moved to Toronto in the late 1980s, in search of bigger and better opportunities to pursue his dream of a career as a professional musician.
After playing in a variety of bands, and studies at the acclaimed Humber College of Music, the path led to playing in musical theatre pit orchestras (Broadway Shows); this has been the main focus of his work since 2001, highlighted by a four year run (2006-2010) in the the North American tour of the smash Broadway hit ‘Mamma Mia’, as well as the Toronto productions of the Tony Award-winning ‘Kinky Boots’ (featuring music score by Cindy Lauper), ‘Beautiful:The Carole King Musical’, Disney/Pixar’s ‘Ratatouille’ in Concert (Toronto Symphony Orchestra), and more recently as a featured instrumentalist performing with STING in his musical ‘The Last Ship’.
Darren has also composed and recorded original music on his debut album ‘Eternal Echoes’, which was deeply influenced by the beauty and power of the Atlantic Ocean surrounding his youth as well as time spent in Hawaii. The expansive/open feeling of his music is a soulful, honest, and genuine reflection on his roots, shaped by people, seascapes, and mystery.
As a lifelong student of the guitar and Music, Darren has continued his post Humber studies with Grammy Award-winning musicians Ledward Ka’apana (Hawaii) & Redd Volkaert (Austin TX) while on tour in the States, as well as Lorne Lofsky (Oscar Peterson trio) & world-renowned Celtic guitarist Tony McManus.