In 1966 he earned a Bachelor of Music from the Université de Montréal and that same year was awarded a teaching certificate from the Quebec Ministry of Education.
His teachers included Victor Brault, Arthur Laurendeau (voice), Conrad Letendre (diction), Georges Mercure (Gregorian chant), Oscar O'Brien, Michel Perrault, and Roland Van de Goor (harmony).
[1] Viau made his professional opera debut as Mercutio in Charles Gounod's Roméo et Juliette at Loew's Theatre in Montreal in 1931.
For the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission he performed in two series in 1934: La Petite Histoire and Le Chanteur de lied.
He served as the choirmaster at St-Sixte Church in Ville St-Laurent, Montreal from 1950 to 1983; also operating a private studio during those years where he taught voice, piano, guitar, and recorder lessons.