BRIEF BIO
Brief bio 2023 - 127 words (scroll down for full bios)
Lenka Lichtenberg is a Canadian musician, composer, and producer who draws on the rich, intercultural Toronto soundscapes she has long immersed herself in, to create her own unique global sound. With her striking, crystalline voice leading the way, the 2023 JUNO Award, Canadian Folk Music and International Independent Music Award winner aspires to build bridges among cultures and transcend the artificial boundaries between folk, jazz and world music in a passionate and often deeply spiritual celebration of her roots. Since relocating to Toronto after spending her early days as a notable child star in her native Prague, the multilingual vocalist has been a prolific collaborator and has also released seven albums of her own. Two of her outings were released worldwide on the U.K.’s ARC Music label. Lenka’s latest project is ‘Thieves of Dreams,’ based on poems she recently unearthed that were written by her grandmother while she was imprisoned in the Theresienstadt concentration camp during World War 2. The album, JUNO Award winner for Global Music Album of the Year, is distributed by Six Degrees worldwide, and by Supraphon in the Czech Republic.
AWARDS and NOMINATIONS
2023: Winner, JUNO Award for Global Music Album of the Year (Thieves of Dreams)
2022: Nominee, Canadian Folk Music Awards, Pushing Boundaries (Thieves of Dreams)
2022: Nominee, Canadian Folk Music Awards, World Solo Artist of the Year (Thieves of Dreams)
2020: Nominee, The 18th Independent Music Awards, Traditional Song
2018: Nominee, Canadian Folk Music Awards, Traditional Singer of the Year (MASARYK)
2018: Nominee, Canadian Folk Music Awards, World Solo Artist of the Year (MASARYK)
2018: Winner, Folk Music Ontario, Songs from the Heart, 'Folk Songs from Around the World' ("Sleep, Baby, Sleep")
2018: Winner, The 16th Independent Music Awards, Song New Age, ”Dobru noc, ma mila" (from MASARYK)
2018: Nominee, The 16th Independent Music Awards, Traditional Album (MASARYK)
2018: Nominee, The 16th Independent Music Awards, Traditional Song "Sly Panenky silnici (from MASARYK)
2017: Nominee, One World Music Awards (U.K.): Best World/ Global Fusion Album (Yiddish Journey)
2016: Nominee, Canadian Folk Music Awards, World Group of the Year (Live in America)
2015: Nominee, The 14th Independent Music Awards, Album - World Traditional (Lullabies from Exile)
2015: Nominee, The 14th Independent Music Awards, Song - World Traditional, "Perfume Road" (Embrace)
2014: Winner, The 13th Independent Music Awards, Vox Populi, Song - New Age ("Raise a Cup of Joy")
2014: Nominee, Toronto Independent Music Awards, "world music" (Embrace)
2014: Nominee, The 13th Independent Music Awards, Song - Eclectic ("Danse Suite Macabre")
2013: Nominee, Canadian Folk Music Awards, World Solo Artist of the Year (Embrace)
2013: Winner, 12th Independent Music Awards, Vox Populi: "Album - World Traditional" (Songs for the Breathing Walls)
2013: Nominee, The 12th Independent Music Awards, Song - World Traditional (El Mi Migoalei Dam Etzak)
2012: Winner, Canadian Folk Music Awards, Traditional Singer of the Year (Songs for the Breathing Walls)
2012: Nominee, Canadian Folk Music Awards, Traditional Album of the Year (Songs for the Breathing Walls)
2011: Nominee, Toronto Independent Music Awards, world music category (Fray)
2011: Nominee, Canadian Folk Music Awards, World Solo Artist of the Year (Fray)
2011: Winner, Porcupine Award, Musique de la monde (Fray)
2011: Winner, Songs from the Heart, multicultural category ("Peace is the Only Way")
2011: Finalist, John Lennon Songwriting Competition, Session II. ("Peace is the Only Way")
2008: Winner, Canadian Folk Music Awards, Vocal Group of the Year (Sheynville Express)
DISCOGRAPHY
Thieves of Dreams: Songs of Theresienstadt's Secret Poetess (2022)
MASARYK: Narodni pisne - Czech, Moravian and Slovak folk songs re-imagined (2017)
Open My Ears: Lenkkodek (2017)
Live in America (2016)
Yiddish Journey (2016)
Lullabies from Exile: Yair Dalal & Lenka Lichtenberg (2014)
Embrace: Lenka Lichtenberg & Fray (2013)
Songs for the Breathing Walls (2012)
Bridges: Live at Lula Lounge with Roula Said (2012)
Fray: Lenka Lichtenberg & Fray (2010)
Sheynville Express: Sisters of Sheynville (2007)
Pashtes - Music to the Poetry of Simcha Simchovitch: Lenka Lichtenberg with Brian Katz (2006)
Open the Gate (2003)
Deep Inside (1999)
bio 440 words 2023
listen to winning tracks from earlier years
Listen to 'Sleep, Baby, Sleep' from the album Lullabies in Exile, the recipient of the 2018 Folk Music Ontario (FMO) Songs From the Heart Award for the Folk Songs from Around the World category, and 'Dobru noc, ma mila' from MASARYK, which also won the 2018 Independent Music Award (New Age Song category).