Robert Lepage names L'orchestre d'hommes-orchestres (LODHO) winner of City of Toronto Glenn Gould Protégé Prize

TORONTO, Feb. 19, 2014 /CNW/ - Robert Lepage, Laureate of the Tenth Glenn Gould Prize, has chosen the fascinating and ingenious L'orchestre d'hommes-orchestres (LODHO) to receive The City of Toronto Glenn Gould Protégé Prize of $15,000 (CAD). Mr. Lepage will present the award to members of LODHO immediately following a special performance of their work Cabaret brise-jour on Saturday, March 29, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. at The Theatre Centre in Toronto.

"Finding yourself out of your comfort zone is something extremely stimulating - that's exactly what L'orchestre d'hommes-orchestres does for you. Somewhere between music, poetry and visual performance, they create their own art form and you suddenly find yourself treading territories you never knew existed. They turn the ordinary into extraordinary, the expected into the unexpected, and noise into harmony. They are truly unique," said Robert Lepage.

"The City of Toronto Glenn Gould Protégé Prize is given by the Laureate to an outstanding artist or collective who they believe embodies the qualities of creative promise, innovation and career potential demonstrated by Gould in his youth," said Brian Levine, Executive Director of The Glenn Gould Foundation. "We're absolutely delighted by Robert Lepage's selection of LODHO, whose work combines an absolutely unique combination of concert, carnival, cabaret, travelling medicine show and alternative reality.  There's no one like them, anywhere."

"We are very honoured by the recognition Robert Lepage has shown towards our work by choosing us for this prize.  The support of an artist whose achievements are so significant, makes us all the prouder of the artistic posture we've been advocating for 12 years: un-discipline, anonymity, confusion between current arts and popular cultures.  So it is a great privilege to be rewarded for having followed all those invisible strings and created all these imperfect forms," said LODHO. "We want to share this award with all the people who have joined us, in a variety of ways, over time.  LODHO is the meeting of a few people who have chosen to compose with a chaos of fertile contradictions, where the role distribution shifts and where we rarely find ourselves where we thought we would be.  And today, we are here."

Founded in Quebec City in 2002, L'orchestre d'hommes-orchestres (LODHO) is an artist run collective led by Bruno Bouchard, Gabrielle Bouthillier, Jasmin Cloutier, Simon Drouin, Simon Elmaleh and Danya Ortmann. The figure of the one-man band is emblematic of their philosophy in which the musician truly "struggles with his instrument" to create "visual music".  LODHO made its mark in 2005 with Performs Tom Waits, a production that manifests the group's unique and iconoclastic artistic approach.  It has been presented to great acclaim more than 150 times at major festivals and venues in Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Spain, Portugal, France, Mexico, Ecuador, Luxembourg, Finland, Ireland, Germany and Canada.  LODHO has created and toured seven other original works including three pieces for the stage and four street performances using antique trucks.  Their newest creation, Cabaret brise-jour, will have its Toronto premiere presented by The Theatre Centre March 25 to 29.

In Cabaret brise-jour, the musicians of LODHO adapt the music of Kurt Weill to create a work at the crossroads of theatre, cabaret, visual arts and performance.  Set in a high-society salon of the early 20^th century, eight musicians sing about the best and worst of the human condition.  From Berlin cabaret and Parisian nostalgia to New York's Broadway, LODHO retraces the path of this musician in exile, using rare instruments and "music-objects" that conjure up Weill's dramatic and musical world.  Superimposed over the music are fanciful and surrealist images concocted by the group to create surprising tableaux vivants, both strange and fascinating.

A limited number of tickets for this special March 29^th matinee performance of Cabaret brise-jour are available for sale for $50 and can be purchased as of February 20^th by calling The Theatre Centre at 416-538-0988 or online at www.theatrecentre.org.  Patrons can also visit the Box Office at 1115 Queen Street West once the new building opens on March 19.

The Glenn Gould Prize Gala in Honour of Robert Lepage will take place on Monday, March 31, 2014 in Ottawa.  Further details will be announced in March.

From March 27 to April 1, in recognition of Robert Lepage, the tenth Laureate of the Glenn Gould Prize, TIFF and The Glenn Gould Foundation will co-present Robert Lepage: Possible Worlds, a retrospective of the films of Robert Lepage including Le Confessionnal (1994), Triptych (2013), The Metropolitan Opera HD Live: Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust (2008) and Possible Worlds (2000).  The retrospective will take place at TIFF Bell Lightbox (350 King Street West), for ticket information visit http://www.tiff.net.

About Robert Lepage
The Tenth Glenn Gould Prize Laureate, Robert Lepage, is renowned for his creative and original approach to theatre and opera, using new technologies to shake classical stage direction to its foundations.  The Quebec-born artist began his career as an actor, author and director gaining international recognition early on with The Dragons' Trilogy in 1985, quickly followed by Vinci, Polygraph and Tectonic Plates.  In 1994 he founded Ex Machina, his multidisciplinary production company, and under his artistic direction, this new team produced a steady output of plays including The Seven Streams of the River Ota, Geometry of Miracles, The Far Side of The Moon, The Andersen Project and Lipsynch.

His operatic achievements include thrilling productions of the double-bill of Bluebeard's Castle and Erwartung, The Damnation of Faust, 1984, The Rake's Progress, Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Metropolitan Opera, The Nightingale and Other Short Fables with the Canadian Opera Company, and The Tempest.  He has worked with leading opera producers in France, Spain and Japan.

About the Glenn Gould Foundation
The Glenn Gould Foundation honours Glenn Gould's spirit and legacy by celebrating brilliance, promoting creativity and transforming lives through the power of music and the arts with the Foundation's signature activities, including The Glenn Gould Prize. An international symbol of creative excellence, The Glenn Gould Prize - which has been referred to as "The Nobel Prize of the Arts" - is awarded biennially to a living individual for a unique lifetime contribution that has enriched the human condition through the arts. Past laureates include Leonard Cohen (2011), Dr. José Antonio Abreu (2008) founder of El Sistema, Pierre Boulez (2002), Yo-Yo Ma (1999), Oscar Peterson (1993) and Lord Yehudi Menuhin (1990). For more information on the foundation, prize and laureates visit www.glenngould.ca .

The City of Toronto Glenn Gould Protégé Prize presentation is part of the Tenth Glenn Gould Prize celebrations, whose Presenting Sponsor is Power Corporation of Canada.  The Glenn Gould Foundation also acknowledges the generous support of the Government of Ontario and the ongoing support of BMO Financial and the Aeroplan Charitable Pooling Program.

SOURCE: Glenn Gould Foundation

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Karen Lorenowicz, KL Strategic Communications
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