Michael is a contemporary fine art composer and pianist who was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on August 3, 1953. Encouraged by his father, Normand, to pursue music at a young age, Viens attended St. John's Preparatory School and then Bowdoin College (Class of 1975). Viens studied composition and theory with Elliot Schwartz at Bowdoin and then completed his Masters in Music at the University of Illinois School of Music. Following his graduate work in Illinois, Viens spent five years in Paris studying under Nadia Boulanger at the Conservatoire Americain at Fountainbleu. While in Paris, several of Viens' works were performed and choreographed at Le Centre d'Art Choreographique de l'Essonne and his song cycle ColorScope was broadcast twice on French National Radio.

Mr. Viens' compositions have been featured at concerts throughout the United States, including a June 1994 premiere at Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall of his song cycles Sundown Voyager, StarBlaze, and ColorScope. In 1995 ColorScope for baritone and orchestra was recorded by the Slovak National Radio Orchestra, and in 1997 Les Insectes Dansants was recorded by the Seattle Symphony. Viens' CDs include York, Maine: fin de siecles (1992), Song Cycles (1996), Sundown Voyager (1996), ColorScope (1998) and a self-titled CD with William Thomas McKinley (1998).

Michael also has two fully orchestrated song cycles...(they exist in piano/vocal format also) Sapphic Odes (same-sex love cycle between two women...trials and tribulations where Love triumphs in the end)....and Seasons of Love (love cycle based on American poets detailing life's struggle/journey...with Love triumphing over Death)

Viens has since relocated to the Palm Springs area where he and Cat Cohen  met and became friends and mutually supportive music creators.