Guy Laliberte

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Guy Laliberté (born September 2, 1959 in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada) is the founder and chief executive officer of Cirque du Soleil. Starting out as an accordion player, stiltwalker and fire-eater; Laliberté created his circus which is a synthesis of all circus styles around the world. In 2006, this 95% share holder of the 1.2 billion dollar Cirque Du Soleil was named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year.

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(In April 2007, Laliberté finished fourth in the World Poker Tour Season Five event at Bellagio in Las Vegas. Laliberté also played on GSN’s High Stakes Poker Season 4 show.)

By the time he was sixteen, he had decided to pursue a career in the performing arts after producing several high school events. After graduating, he became involved with a folk music group called “La Grande Gueule”, playing the accordion and harmonica. His work on the folk music scene was what introduced him the art of street performance.

After quitting college, Laliberté toured Europe as a folk musician and busker. He had learned the art of fire breathing by the time he returned home to Canada in 1979. Although he became employed at a hydroelectric power plant in James Bay, his job ended after only three days due to a labor strike. Supporting himself off of his unemployment insurance, he decided not to look for another job. Instead, he joined the stilt-walking troupe “Les Echassiers De Baie-Saint-Paul” that was led by Gilles Ste-Croix. Shortly afterward, Laliberté and Ste-Croix organized a summer fair in Baie-Saint-Paul with the help of Laliberté’s soon-to-be business partner Daniel Gauthier.

This festival, called the “La FÄ“te Foraine”, first took place in July of 1982 touring Quebec. Ironically, the event was barred from its host town shortly thereafter because of complaints by local citizens. Laliberté managed and produced the fair over the next couple years, nurturing it into a moderate financial success. But it was during 1983 that the government of Quebec gave him a 1.5 million dollar grant to host a production the following year as part of Quebec’s 450th anniversary celebration of the French explorer Jacques Cartier’s discovery of Canada. Laliberté named his creation “Le Grand Tour du Cirque Du Soleil.”

The celebration turned out to be a critical and commercial success. Although the first tour of Cirque only netted a forty-thousand dollar profit, it allowed him to sign almost 1.5 million dollars in contracts. They had been performing exclusively for Canadian audiences until 1987 when Laliberté risked everything and took his circus to the Los Angeles Arts Festival. It cost the production’s entire cash reserve to make the move. Had it not been successful, he would not have had the money to move the troupe back home to Quebec.

Bye Bye Birdie rehearsal photos

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Here are some rehearsal photos from Bye Bye Birdie which I conducted at McIntyre Hall (Mount Vernon, WA) in November 2007.

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This was what I called the “keyboard army”. We had three keyboardists covering piano, strings and percussion bell parts. I opted use synth strings in favor of having a full sax and horn section. The music for Bye Bye Birdie at the time was supposed to sound rock, but it’s really more of a big band Broadway type sound.

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Full cast rehearsal with partial orchestra at a local gymnasium. Note to self, orchestra rehearsals do not work well in gymnasiums

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First run-throughs with the pit orchestra.

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I think this is one of the orchestra members, Kyle, playing video games…

Rocky Horror Show Photos

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Photos from the Rocky Horror Show at the Lincoln Theater, Mount Vernon, WA. Presented by the Theater Arts Guild in October and November 2007. I was music director and keyboardist.

This was one of the funnest shows and best crews I ever worked with. And everyone in the cast knows it. Long Live the Lips!

Click photos for full size view

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Columbia

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Eddie

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Frank ‘n Furter

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Magenta and Riff Raff

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Narrator

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Produer Roger Ragusa ala Morocco Mole

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RHS Marquee outside the theater

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Lincoln Theater front

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RHS sets – setting up the balcony

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RHS set during construction

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RHS set front view during set-up

Montreal with Cirque – Week 3

Email received:

Thanks for the update! The Conrad I have come to know is a fairly private man and I respect this. I guess when you are dealing with a first class outfit, its first class all the way around.  If I can read between the lines, it looks like they foster a culture that allows all participants to move forward, not feeling compelled to stay in the box. Allowing musicians to create yet move as one.

You are a well traveled man from previous experiences. I suspect much of what you are experiencing is not foreign; different form and culture, but relative to traveling with Freddy and alike. The other things I am curious about are simply the place you are staying, is it an apartment or hotel? How is the food? What is grocery shopping like? I suspect you enjoy dinning out, expensive, a luxury you desire but relish this experience and are trying to take it all in at once. I appreciate the dialogue. Take care.

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Hi all!

I’ve received several emails wondering why I haven’t been posting on my blog much. Believe me, there are so many things I’d love to post about – but trying to remain true to keeping all the details of my current project under wraps.

I’ve been in Montreal for several weeks now at the Cirque Du Soleil headquarters rehearsing for their new show in Macao, China.

We’re staying in the heart of Montreal just a few blocks from St. Catherine street – a central party and shopping district. We each have our own apartment and they are very nice with a gym and swimming pool. I’ve been trying to hit the gym and pool on a regular basis (with varying degrees of success).

Within just a few blocks of us are dozens and dozens of restaurants from a wide variety of nationalities. Tonight we had Indian, a couple nights ago Thai – pretty much anything you can image – it’s very international.

In the downtown area merchants are very accomadating about speaking English – especially in the restaurants. The further away you get from downtown, it gets a little more difficult. But so far I’ve only had one person be outright rude that I wasn’t speaking French. Walking down the street and hearing people talk it seems about 80% French and 20% English.

What amuses me is that people seem to automatically know if you’re English – and will say “Excuse me” instead of speaking in French. (Maybe the Levi jeans are a giveaway and the “New York” winter hat). Black seems the popular color for Montreal winter wear. Seems that EVERYONE is wearing black. Maybe because it’s easier to see against the snow, or maybe everyone is just ultimately cool.

My personal opinion is that the people in Montreal are very easy on the eyes. A very good looking bunch of people. And of course they all seem sophisticated to me because they have French accents. So there you go – my superficial take on Montreal.

There are lots of smaller Mom and Pop type markets where we can buy fresh food to make at the apartment. Many of the normal brands you would see in the states with a little more international variety.

The musicians I’ve heard here are top notch. Last week I heard a band at Bistro JoJo with a guitar player that struck me as an up and coming SRV – and a B3 player that gave an incredible show. And this was just a local bar band. Maybe I got lucky – some local musicians turned me on to the club.

The whole Cirque experience has been very enjoyable so far. I really love my fellow band mates – players from the US, Australia, Sweden and Armenia. A great family to play in China with.

Many of the artists are planning on moving their families to China – and it turns out there were a lot of last minute marriages so people could immigrate their partners to China. Being single, I’m just looking forward to working hard for Cirque and I’ll see where my time and creativity lead me down the road.

Several people have asked me, “Won’t it be hard for you to do the same show night after night?”. Not at all. Every show is a brand new opening night and a chance to give your ultimate focus and passion. What’s greater than that? My interest is in the experience of people in the audience, not my own. I want each person in the audience to experience the opening night magic of Cirque. I would guess that most artists share that passion.

A shout out to my friends in Mount Vernon, WA and Southern California. This sure has been a fun ride so far…

Olivier Milchberg

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English/Français/Español

Olivier Milchberg born in Paris, November 7th, 1963. He studied piano and guitar, both classical and jazz for 10 years. At 19, he joined the group Los Incas, founded by his father Jorge Milchberg. He began as guitarist, then continued as flute solo.

The international tours and multiple recordings with Los Incas gave him a much experience as a poly-instrumentalist. He founded Muance Productions in 1988, both as a recording studio and for production of traditional music.

He shares his time between concerts, composition, artistic direction and as producer.
From 1998 on, he developed a passion for oriental music. In 1999 he joins the group Pêcheurs de Perles founded by the Irakien singer Mohamed Alnuma. Olivier Milchberg approaches music with a global conception.

This approach brought him to play numerous instruments traditional or ethnic, like bouzouki (Greek and Irish) and cumbus (Turkish banjo). He’s had a passion since a very young age for reed and bamboo flutes like the “Kena”, “bansouri flute” from India, the ney.

Finally, his ear and mastery of rythm enable him to play the different percussion instruments with ease. His musical research is more than all based on music with soul and roots, in which his inspiration comes for the development of his personal expression.

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Né à Paris le 7 novembre 1963, il y étudie le piano et la guitare, classique et jazz, pendant dix ans. Il rejoint à 19 ans le groupe Los Incas fondé par son père Jorge Milchberg, en tant que guitariste, puis devient flûtiste soliste.
Les tournées internationales et les enregistrements avec Los Incas lui donnent une grande expérience poly-instrumentale.
Il fonde en 1988 Muance Productions, structure de production de musiques traditionnelles et studio d’enregistrement. Il partage son temps entre les concerts, la composition, la direction artistique et la production discographique.
Il collabore avec de nombreux musiciens de traditions musicales diverses, tels que Sergei Starostin (Russie), Christian Zagaria (médiéval-Oriental), accompagne Delphine Aguilera et Hombeline (chants Occitans), intègre les groupe Bandzydeco (Cajun), Kapela (musiques de l’est), Passe Montagne (bals folks), Balkanic Trio (de l’Europe à l’Orient).
Il rencontre et rejoint en 1999 l’ensemble Pêcheurs de Perles fondé par le chanteur iraquien Mohamed Alnuma, collabore avec le chanteur palestinien Moneim Adwan.
Olivier Milchberg aborde la musique avec une conception globale d’arrangeur. Cette approche l’a amené à pratiquer de nombreux instruments, traditionnels ou ethniques, comme le bouzouki (grec et irlandais), le cumbus (banjo turc). Il s’est passionné depuis très jeune pour les flûtes de roseau et de bambou comme les kenas, les flûtes bansouri d’Inde, le ney. Enfin, son oreille et sa maîtrise du rythme lui permettent de jouer des percussions avec aisance. Sa recherche porte avant tout sur les musiques qui ont une âme et des racines, dont il s’inspire pour développer son expression propre.

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Olivier Milchberg nació en París el 7 de Noviembre de 1963,
Estudió piano y guitarra, clásica y jazz, durante diez años.
A los 19 años se unió como guitarrista al grupo Los Incas fundado por su padre Jorge Milchberg, para convertirse luego en flautista.
Las giras internacionales y las grabaciones con Los Incas le han han permitido acumular una gran experiencia poli-instrumental.
En 1998 funda “Muance Productions”, estructura de producción de músicas tradicionales y estudio de grabación.
Reparte su tiempo entre los conciertos, la dirección artística y la producción discográfica.
A partir de 1998 se apasiona particularmente por las músicas orientales.
En 1999 integra el conjunto Pêcheurs de Perles fundado por el cantante iraquí Mohamed Alnuma.
Olivier Milchberg aborda la música con una concepción global.
Este enfoque le permite practicar numerosos instrumentos, tradicionales o étnicos, como el bouzouki ( griego e irlandés) o el cumbus (banjo turco); desde muy jóven siente pasión por las flautas de caña y de bambú como las kenas, las flautas bansouri de India o el ney. Su oído y su conocimiento del ritmo le permiten tocar percusiones con facilidad.
Su investigación se ocupa sobre todo de las músicas que poseen un alma y unas raíces, en las cuales se inspira para desarrollar su propia expresión.

Rachael Cogan

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Racheal Cogan’s recorder sounds as pure as a new-born babe’s conscience. But all it takes is for her to bend a note and that purity is suddenly rent by a flash of the ancient lusts that afflict us all. (John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald Sun, February 17-18, 2007)

Tony Lewis [is] one of Sydney’s most versatile and accomplished exponents of non-Western percussion (Sydney Morning Herald, Metro, April 23, 1999)

Racheal Cogan (recorders) & Tony Lewis (percussion) perform captivating melodies and rhythms informed and inspired by the music of many cultures. Their unique repertoire includes traditional pieces from Greece, Turkey and Iran, as well as compositions by Racheal Cogan and Ross Daly. Racheal and Tony’s work is drawn from an impressive amount of first hand experience in the study and performance of musical forms across the world, spanning Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East, and the indigenous musics of Australia. Their new CD Transience: Contemporary Modal Music, released by Orpheus Music in January 2007 (OM 602). “is spiritual, the musicians have artistry, creativity, vision and sheer mastery of their instruments. These two cultural beatniks have come up with something very special, the synergy between them has created music that will long graze on your CD player and consciousness.” (Jaslyn Hall, Limelight: March 2007)

Racheal and Tony first performed together in Armidale NSW, in January 2005, and have since been performing Australia wide at the Brisbane Multicultural Arts Centre, Townsville Community Music Centre in Qld, the Boite in Melbourne, Eastside Arts in NSW, and the Art Gallery of New South Wales. They have also conducted workshops together for the Music Education Unit of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music (NSW) and for the Music Centre North Queensland.

Racheal Cogan has worked extensively in modal music forms around the world. In Melbourne in 1993 she co-founded the Greek music group the haBiBis, whose CD Intoxication won an ARIA award in 1999. In 2000 she travelled to Athens to study, perform and record with Ross Daly and his ensemble Labyrinth throughout Greece, Turkey, and Macedonia. Since then she has studied Persian classical music with Hossein Omoumi in France, Karnatic Music with Karaikudi R. Mani in India, and performed with Kurdish musician Fardin Karamkhani in the USA. Racheal recorded her CD Sojourn in Greece, with Ross Daly, Kelly Thomas and Angeliki Xekalaki. Sojourn was released in Australia in 2006 by Orpheus Music. In 2008 and 2009, Racheal is based in Macau, China, working with Cirque du Soleil.

Tony Lewis has performed, studied, and conducted cultural exchange project in various parts of Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and in indigenous communities around Australia. He has worked with many of Australia’s leading music groups, including Waratah (with Sandy Evans & Satsuki Odamura), The Renaissance Players, Riley Lee, and many others. Tony appeared as a soloist at the Commonwealth Drum Festival (Auckland 1990), and was a segment Musical Director for the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Paralympic Games. He has composed major works for the Perth Festival, the Festival of the Dreaming, the Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre, and Sadari Theatre Company (Seoul). In duo with Racheal, Tony performs on hand drums such as tabla, zarb and udu.

Rachel Cogan & Tony Lewis have many more concerts and projects planned. More information about Racheal Cogan & Tony Lewis can be found at:www.rachealcogan.com

Maria Andersson

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Maria Andersson was born in a small town in Sweden called Västervik. She lives in Stockholm where she writes music, plays some guitar and sings. She works with acoustic bands and is also a vocalist with Cirque Du Soleil.

In Sweden, Maria Andersson works with musicians including Linnea Ohlsson РCello, Cecilia Persson РPiano, Lisa Eriksson -Accordeon, Mattias Fjellstr̦m Рguitars, Clas Lassbo Рbass and Povel Ohlsson РPercussion.

Greetings from Montreal

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My first week of rehearsal in Montreal, Canada with Cirque Du Soleil has almost passed. We are working on their new show to debut in Macao, China in Summer 2008.

The photo of Cirque headquarters above is off the web, there’s actually quite a bit of snow here now. I found out very quickly why everyone wears a warm hat.

And about the show? All I can say it’s absolutely fantastic, just the way Cirque always is. All the artists are working hard, but that’s why we’re here. You’ll just have to wait until the show opens to find out all the cool details…

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Wisdom and Folly

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 “My wish to you is not for wisdom, but for folly.”

Cirque Du Soleil’s website has a feature to send friends greeting cards. I received this card today from a very good friend. Actually the one friend who has seen more of my gigs than anyone else. I thought it was just so cool they sent it, and very cool Cirque has this feature. Thanks for making my day!

For more info visit http://www.cirquedusoleil.com .