Imagine the breathtaking beauty of some of the best cirque artists in the world performing on the same stage with a full symphony orchestra. The Evansville Philharmonic Orchestra brings this magical experience to the Victory Theatre with Cirque de la Symphonie! We talked to Executive Director, Glenn Roberts, about this month’s performance.
N4U: Music and dance naturally have strong ties with each other.
How do the cirque artists interpret the separate pieces of music into motion and movement?
Glenn Roberts: They train themselves to match the overall “rhythm” of their routine with the ebb and flow of the musical selections. Unlike ballet where a dancer’s every move is tied measure by measure to the music, the cirque acrobats follow a more general contour of the music, and then time their “Ta-Da!” moments to coincide with the climaxes in the music.
Being such a visual program, how do the orchestra and the performers share the stage?
The staging logistics were the first challenge we had to work through. But fortunately the stage at the Victory Theatre is very deep, so sharing space with the performers is not an issue. This production will look very different than most. The orchestra will be set further back than normal to allow room in front of the stage for the acrobats and strongmen. We’ll have a special rigging to allow aerial acrobats to perform and “float” above the first rows of the audience. As a special bonus, we’ll utilize the orchestra pit as special seating for audience members, who will get to see the aerial artist perform directly overhead.
This program calls upon more contemporary pieces of music, including works from the movies “Star Wars” and “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” which offer more energetic pieces. Was this taken into consideration when compiling the selections for the program?
The music selections are driven by the Cirque de la Symphonie company and based upon which acrobats are selected to perform. The inclusion of the “Star Wars” and “Harry Potter” scores certainly add to the excitement, but the majority of the music is actually straight from the great romantic composers. The audience will be thrilled by some of the most heart-pounding, passionate music ever written. I’d bet it will be familiar to the listeners as it has been used in movies, television shows, advertisements, cartoons, you name it!
There has been increasing popularity for cirque acts over the last 5 years; was this a driving force for this program?
Absolutely. The enormous popularity of Cirque du Soleil has spawned a great interest in this art form, and the pairing of great acrobatic talent with great symphonic music is just too good to pass up! This particular program is selling out across the country, so naturally we couldn’t resist catching this wave here in Evansville.
Is there a particular moment from the concert that you are most excited about that is sure to wow the audience?
This show is riddled with “wow” moments – in fact, we should have oxygen available to help folks catch their breath. But if I have to choose, don’t miss the aerial hoop routine, and Jarek & Darek, the Strongmen at the end of the show. (How do they do that!?)
Cirque de la Symphone will be performed on Saturday, April 9 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 10 at 2:00 p.m. at the Victory Theatre. For more information or tickets, call 425-5050 or visit evansvillephilharmonic.org.
