Cirque (with Photo Gallery)
Christine Van Loo performs during the “Harry Potter” set. All photos from rehearsal by Brian Jacobson.
((Update at 6 p.m. Friday: photos from the afternoon rehearsals with the MSO Pops and the CDLS now available, scroll to bottom of article))
But the strongman bit might go something like this, as it did with the Roanoke Symphony:
Cirque is one of the hottest attractions on the pops circuit right now. Susan Loris, the MSO’s marketing VP, said that tickets for the three performances are flying out the door.
Conductor Stuart Chafetz
Of course Chafetz is happy about that, but he’s happy to have Cirque in Milwaukee for musical reasons, too. Cirque shows are famously mute; the silence is part of the mystique. The fringe benefit for pops orchestras: no microphones. The orchestra must be amped-up when combined with rock, jazz and pop acts, which are the rule at pops concert. No so with Cirque. Classical musicians are always more comfortable playing au naturale. And they’re more comfortable with the repertoire that Cirque brings.
“It’s a hefty program,” Chafetz said. “It’s cool. We’ll be doing our thing — real symphonic rep — and they’ll be doing theirs. They said they can adjust to our tempos.”
Chafetz clicked off nine selections. The orchestra will play Rimsky-Korsakov’s Dance of the Tumblers and Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice alone, for the music and to give Cirque time to re-rig for tricks and change costumes.
A Rossini can-can, Saint-Saens’ Danse Macabre and Bacchanale from Samson and Delilah, an excerpt from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, and the Overture from Glinka’s Ruslan and Ludmilla, and John Williams’ Harry Potter’s Wondrous World are pretty circusy and seem like naturals for this program. But I can only imagine what the Cirque people might do to the strains of Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries and the finale from Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5.
The MSO Pops Cirque concerts are set for 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 1-3, at Marcus Center Uihlein Hall, 929 N. Water St. Tickets are $25-$93 at the MSO website, the MSO ticket line, 414-291-7605 and at the Marcus Center box office, 414-273-7206.
PHOTO GALLERY – for full view, click on thumbnail. Hit back button on browser to return to article and gallery.
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I understand that orchestras need to fill seats–but such hyperactive gimmicks draw in new people at the expense of serious concert-goers like me. Hear ye, hear ye! Watch death-defying acrobatics while listening to some, ah, background music! The term “circus” is apt.
Probably a lot of us who care about music have misgivings about such ventures as this. I can see both sides of the issue: “We’re expanding our audience” vs “You’re sullying your art.” I’ve long suspected, however, that although classical musicians historically have portrayed themselves as being above the gimmicks of Show Biz, they’ve always relied to some extent on those gimmicks (think Liszt and Paganini); they’re just more honest about them nowadays. Excitement and image are marketing tools. Check out the photos of Johannes Moser, scheduled to play the Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1 later this month; with his moody, introspective look (big shout-out to Obie Yadgar), he could pass as the latest pop singer. If this gets people in the seats to hear some great music-making, is it a bad thing? I don’t know.