From Stampede to Cirque du Soleil
2016 Talent Search winner Munson among alumni making music a career
It took less than a month after winning the top prize at the 2016 Calgary Stampede Talent Search for cellist and singer Lizzy Munson’s life to take another significant twist.
The Calgary performer was set to followup her $10,000 win at the Boyce Theatre, where she wowed the audience and judges with haunting cello-voice renditions of Nirvana’s Heart- Shaped Box and Smells Like Teen Spirit, with a stint on a cruise ship when she discovered that Cirque du Soleil were holding an “urgent casting call” for Ká, the long-running lavish extravaganza based in Las Vegas. There was an option for musicians to send in video auditions, which Munson did. A Skype interview soon followed with the show’s music director. Within a few days, she was told she was joining the team at the MGM Grand.
“It’s funny, it just happened that every year for my birthday there would be a touring (Cirque) show that would be in Calgary,” says Munson. “I just loved Cirque. So I would always say to my parents ‘I don’t want presents, I would just love to get tickets to the Cirque show.’ So I would always go see the show. So it was really a dream come true to even be considered for Cirque.”
Munson, now 21, is back in Calgary for the weekend. As is tradition at the Calgary Stampede Talent Search, Munson will return to the Boyce Theatre stage on Saturday as last year’s winner to perform while the judges deliberate on who will take this year’s prize.
And, as with many a past winner of the Calgary Stampede Talent Search, Munson had to squeeze the performance into a very hectic schedule. After learning she had won the spot with Cirque last August, Munson travelled to Las Vegas in November to begin training and rehearsals. She currently performs 10 shows a week with Cirque. As a musician-singer, much of her performance is done under Ká’s elaborate stage. But she does go on stage for the show’s finale, where she sings the song O Makundé.
She returns to Nevada on Sunday, where she lives 25 kilometres from the Vegas strip in the neighbouring city of Henderson.
“I just turned 21 in the middle of May,” she says. “The first few months were interesting because I was living there and had an apartment and had a job, but I couldn’t go out. I wasn’t allowed into half the places. I couldn’t buy alcohol. So that was interesting. When people think of Vegas, they only think of the strip. But there’s so much more. (Henderson) is very suburban, very safe, very nice and doesn’t look anything like the strip.”
The talent search has a legacy of producing performers who are in it for the long run. Scott Henderson, a former contestant, is a vocal director for the Young Canadians and music director for this year’s Grandstand Show.
Christian Hudson, who made headlines after donating his first place winnings to the Calgary Drop-In Centre in 2015, performed at the iHeartRadio Westfest in Calgary on July 8 in a lineup that also included Iggy Azalea and Hedley. Canmore’s Layten Kramer, the 2014 winner, released his debut album and toured Canada in 2016. Michael Bridge, the accordion player who nabbed the top prize in 2013, has since graduated from the University of Toronto’s music program, was awarded the Lieutenant-governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award and was named “30 Hot Classical Musicians Under 30” by CBC. Trevor Panczak, who won in 1999, headlines the Nashville North stage on Sunday; while Annika Odegard, who picked up the win in 2012, and Bryton Udy, who won the Talent Search’s Don Welden award the same year, have formed the chart-topping country duo Leaving Thomas and recently signed a record deal.
Dance-pop star Kiesza is a past contestant, while past winners have included singer-songwriter Michael Bernard Fitzgerald, who won in 2007, and country superstar Paul Brandt, who took the top prize in 1992.
“If Paul is around, he stops by backstage sometimes. It’s pretty cool,” says Jessica Badzgon, who is the chair of the Calgary Stampede Talent Search. “I think it’s inspiring.”
By the time Munson plays the Boyce Theatre Saturday night, the 2017 competition will have already whittled down the contestants to 12 finalists. Badzgon said this year’s crop of talent began with 300 auditions, and has included dancers, singers, musicians and even a yo-yo artist.
The winners will be announced Saturday night after Munson plays.
As for the future, the cellist and vocalist hopes to stay on with Cirque du Soleil and also has plans to record an album of original music.
She says the 2016 Calgary Talent Search win gave her exposure a significant boost.
“After I won I was doing a lot of interviews and a lot of things I hadn’t done before,” she says. “Talent Search can lead you to a lot of different places.”