Over more than forty years of an exceptional career, Louise Bessette has distinguished herself through the excellence of her performances on stage, earning consistently enthusiastic critical acclaim.
Many composers have written works especially for her. As a soloist, she has performed under the direction of Leonardo García Alarcón (Les Violons du Roy), Charles Bruck (Orchestre symphonique de Québec), Edward Cumming (Belfast Ulster Orchestra), Agnieszka Duczmal (Amadeus Chamber Orchestra, Poznań, Poland), Charles Dutoit and Kent Nagano (Orchestre symphonique de Montréal), Mauricio Kagel (Orchestre philharmonique de Radio France), Pascal Rophé (Orchestre national de Montpellier), Gerard Schwarz (New York Chamber Symphony), Michel Swierczewski (Aarhus Symphony Orchestra, Denmark), Yuli Turovsky (I Musici de Montréal), and Pascal Verrot (Orchestre national de Lyon).

Her vast repertoire has brought her invitations to major musical events, including the Festival Présences of Radio France, the Musica Festival in Strasbourg, the Détours de Babel Festival in Grenoble, the Tivoli Festival in Copenhagen, the Numus Festival in Aarhus, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (UK), the International Festival of Lanaudière (Quebec), and the Domaine Forget International Festival (Quebec). She has also performed in Warsaw and Mexico City for the World Music Days.

In 2007, she was professor and guest artist at the 4th Shanghai International Piano Festival. Louise Bessette has recorded around thirty albums, including two devoted to Messiaen: Les oiseaux (Analekta), which received an enthusiastic review in Gramophone, and her universally acclaimed performance of Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus (ATMA Classique).

In 2019, she received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Artistic Achievement in Classical Music, the highest distinction in the performing arts in Canada. In 2016, she was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Music by the University of Western Ontario in recognition of her international career as a performer.

A pianist with an eclectic repertoire and a constant desire to engage with other art forms, Louise Bessette recorded works by Alkan and Grieg in 2009 for the film Mères et filles by French director Julie Lopes-Curval, starring Catherine Deneuve and Marie-Josée Croze. The film premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival in 2009 and was subsequently released worldwide.

Winner of a tenth Opus Award from the Conseil québécois de la musique in 2021, she was named one of the 25 best Canadian pianists by CBC Music in 2015. First Prize winner at the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Competition (1981), First Prize at the International Competition of Contemporary Music (Saint-Germain-en-Laye, 1986), First Prize at the Gaudeamus International Competition (Rotterdam, 1989), recipient of the Québec-Flanders Prize (1991), Member of the Order of Canada (2001), Officer of the National Order of Quebec (2005), and Ambassador of the Canadian Music Centre (2009), Louise Bessette also serves on juries of international competitions and gives masterclasses in Europe, Canada, and Asia. Since 1996, she has held a piano professorship at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal.