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Issue #112: MAY 2013 – Released!
05 May 2013 12:20 PM | No Comments
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Interviews
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Mark Ward – Performer
“A Career Backwards”
09 June 2011 8:47 AM | No Comments -
Benoit Jutras – Composer
“Making Time Stop”
16 March 2011 8:24 AM | No Comments -
Erich Van Tourneau – Musical Director
“Takin’ Care of Business”
16 March 2011 8:21 AM | No Comments -
Bob & Bill – Album Producers
“Believing & Dreaming”
27 January 2011 10:02 AM | No Comments -
Jerry Nadal – SVP Resident Shows
“Keeping the Value”
10 November 2010 11:07 AM | No Comments -
Daniel Lamarre – President & COO
“Joining the Circus”
14 June 2010 7:46 AM | No Comments -
Ferguson & Allaire – Album Producers
“Making Unexpected Magic Timeless”
05 January 2010 10:05 AM | No Comments
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Interviews Archive
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Mark Ward – Performer
“A Career Backwards”When the arena tour of Quidam recently visited Everett, Washington, my wife and I had the opportunity to revisit a show we first saw during the first CirqueCon in 2004. One of the pleasant surprises was to find that Mark Ward, who was kind enough to be part of the first CirqueCon post-show Q&A years [...] -
Benoit Jutras – Composer
“Making Time Stop”Due to our desire to carry physical CD’s when we travel rather than pack an iPod, two disks always make their way into our CD case. One is the René Dupéré-composed Holiday on Ice show “Exotica” (1998, Netza 1751). The other is always the Benoit Jutras-composed Cirque du Soleil “O” soundtrack (1998, Cirque du Soleil [...] -
Erich Van Tourneau – Musical Director
“Takin’ Care of Business”Cirque du Soleil was quick to realize, with the critical and financial success of The Beatles Love, that it could expand its stable of productions beyond ideas and characters generated exclusively in-house. Many of the lessons learned during the creation of the Beatles project would be applied to its next collaborative endeavor – a show [...] -
Bob & Bill – Album Producers
“Believing & Dreaming”The tasks of both creating the music and producing the soundtrack for Cirque du Soleil’s latest touring creation, Totem (2010, Cirque du Soleil Musique CDSMC-10034), fell to the Montréal musical team of “Bob & Bill.” Their ‘real’ names are Guy Dubuc (Ge Doo-BOOK) and Marc Lessard (Mark Less-ARD) – so who is “Bob” and who is “Bill?” “It’s a big secret,” Marc hinted, when we talked in late October. Explained Guy, “It’s a team actually. Nobody’s nobody, the team is called Bob & Bill.” -
Jerry Nadal – SVP Resident Shows
“Keeping the Value”As we were preparing for our latest trip to Las Vegas (to see Viva Elvis! and catch BeLIEve “2.0”) we asked if we could sit down with Mr. Nadal for a chat, to talk about the shows and his outlook on things of interest to Cirque fans. We were delighted when the theater veteran with much press experience found time in his busy schedule. -
Daniel Lamarre – President & COO
“Joining the Circus”When it became clear we would be able to add Montreal to our CirqueCon 2010 weekend in New York, our journalistic minds went into high gear. Who in the Cirque organization, we wondered, might be interested in talking with us for Fascination? -
Ferguson & Allaire – Album Producers
“Making Unexpected Magic Timeless”When the soundtrack CD of the Tokyo, Japan resident show ZED (Cirque du Soleil Musique, CDSMCD-10031, 2009) was released reaction was enthusiastic, yet fans wondered about some of the decisions made in the albums production. So we at Fascination went right to the source, the albums production team of Martin Lord-Ferguson and Ella Louise Allaire (EL-uh Lou-EEZ Uh-LAIR). -
Violaine Corradi – Composer
“Working for Joy”With the release of the ZAIA CD (Cirque du Soleil Musique CDSMC-20029, 2009) in the US (and coming up in Canada on October 20), it is our honor and privilege to continue our series on the music of Cirque du Soleil with an exclusive interview with the Musical Composer of ZAIA, Ms. Violaine Corradi. -
Alain Vinet – Musical Director
“Moving Cirque”We often talk in these pages about Cirque music, its influence, popularity and the high esteem (and high expectations) it has amongst fans. Many have praised its unique sound and style while at the same time wondering about (and sometimes even questioning) decisions made by soundtrack CD producers. Last month we had a chance to talk with the very kind Alain Vinet (Al-ahn VEE-nay), Cirque du Soleil’s Musical Director, about his role in the creation of "25" as well as the show soundtracks so close to the hearts of many devoted fans. -
The John-Paul Interview
We first met John-Paul Gasparrelli with a short interview in our very first issue. At the time (September, 2001) he had just become the Musical Director/Keyboardist for "O" in Las Vegas. Though only Musical Director until Spring 2003, his story of how he became a musician, his climb up the ladder, and his thoughts on music are inspiring. -
Steben Sisters Interview
In 2003, when we heard that the Steben Sisters would be appearing for a limited time in our local Seattle production of Teatro Zinzanni (www.zinzanni.org), we knew we had to try and see if we could talk to them. So I got in touch with One Reel Productions (www.onereel.org), the non-profit arts organization that produces Zinzanni. Would the Stebens possibly consent to talk with us? I asked. We are proud to present a live (if several years old) in-depth exclusive interview with those fabulous ladies of the flying trapeze, the Steben Sisters! -
A Conversation with René Dupéré
Before Cirque du Soleil, the world of circus music was populated by brass bands and marshal music arrangements. Certainly there were occasional forays into the unusual, but it was Cirque that pioneered the concept of bringing more modern, more "world-music" sounds into a circus context. Winning accolades and influencing countless others, it is the music of Cirque du Soleil that, through the ears, prepares the mind for the wonders about to unfold before the eyes. This is a tribute not only to René Dupéré, Benoit Jutras, Violaine Corradi, and other Cirque composers, but also to Cirque's ability to mesh all the elements of circus and stagecraft into a magical whole. -
BJ, Live from Japan – an Online Chat
On a wonderful Sunday evening in March, BJ, the drummer on tour with Quidam, once again took a few moments out of his busy schedule to chat with Cirque du Soleil fans via the Internet. Like last time, BJ joined about 10 Cirque fans from across the globe on the IRC (Internet Relay Chat) network. He spoke with us about Japan, his current feelings about the tour, projects he's working on and various opinions about where he is in life. -
An Evening’s Chat with BJ – Quidam’s Percussionist
It was a daunting challenge involving weeks of planning and several authorizations but we finally achieved our end result... a chat with a Cirque du Soleil musician! How would it be done? Which communication program would we use? How would I keep control over the chat? These and many more questions arose as those weeks began melting away. But, on August 17, 2003 at 8:00pm Eastern Daylight Time, the chat began and all the troubles of bringing it together were quickly forgotten. With a "Good Morning from Japan," our guest, BJ, a percussionist with the Quidam tour currently in Japan, joined us for about 2 and a half hours that Sunday night and spoke about who he is, what he's doing, and where he may be headed next, not to mention that he enjoys Sushi, Sake, Pocky and a good Irish Pub! -
John-Paul Gasparrelli – The new Musical Director for “O”!
Just as we were putting this issue "to bed" we were surprised by an "introductory" message from the newly-hired Musical Director/Conductor/Keyboardist for "O", John-Paul Gasparrelli, which appeared on the Cirque Mailing List. Of course we couldn't let such an opportunity pass! We're quite pleased to bring you our first interview - an introductory chat with John-Paul! He'll be starting his Cirque career in late October, so here we discuss a little of his life pre-Cirque and how he got the job.