Piano Heist

“One of the most enjoyable evenings ever. A mixture of incredible musical talent and warm humour. Loved it, loved it, loved it, you absolutely nailed it for fun... on par with the Smothers Brothers and Victor Borge”

– G. Bowers, Nanaimo, BC

Lifelong friends, and colleagues, Nico Rhodes, and Patrick Courtin, shocked and appalled by the realization that piano just isn’t cool anymore, set off on a divine quest to redeem the keyboard and reinstate its reputation as the greatest instrument of ALL TIME! Armed with the music of the greatest composers, songwriters and performers of the past 300 years, and the technology of the 21st century – their virtual orchestra D.O.U.G.I. (Digital Orchestral Ultimate Gizmo Intelligence), Nico and Patrick deliver everything from classical piano raptures to bombastic boogie woogie, from romantic piano ballads to 80’s keyboard synth battles in their show Piano Heist! What ensues is a mishmash of theatrical wonder, comedy, audience participation, heartfelt stories, a pinch of history, and a world of musical madness.

PROJECT CREATOR: NICO RHODES is a genre jumping, multilingual musician who collaborates with other artists and art forms to experience and explore music in as many styles as possible. He is equally comfortable playing jazz, classical, funk or roots music, orchestrating a symphony, writing musicals, and conducting choirs. Nico Rhodes is one of the most in demand young arranger/musical directors in Canada, with 40 stage musicals to his credit. He’s written 400 original compositions, four original musicals and arranged two symphonic pops concerts.

PATRICK COURTIN is a pianist as well as a multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, music director and teacher. From his first professional gig accompanying a choir at the age of 14, Patrick has been a career musician. He is classically trained through the Royal Conservatory of Music and completed a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies at Vancouver Island University. For the past decade, Patrick has directed musical theatre, accompanied silent film, played in recording sessions, created music for film + TV, and toured across Canada, the US and China.