A Concert For Cirque du Soleil’s 30th Anniversary!

30thAnnivConcert

Cirque du Soleil would like to invite you to its 30th Anniversary Concert, an ephemeral musical event taking place from December 13 to 28, at the heart of Saint-Jean-Baptiste church in Montreal!

As part of its 30th anniversary, and for the first time in its history, Cirque du Soleil will present a truly unique, exclusive music event celebrating 30 years of music. Presented by Xerox, this concert will run for two weeks only, from December 13 to 28, at the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Church in Montreal.

Over the course of three decades, twenty-odd composers wrote and arranged the music for the 35 shows created by Cirque du Soleil since 1984. Drawing their inspiration from world music, rock, jazz or contemporary sounds, the composers have added their own personal signature to each of the 35 productions.

The 75-minute concert will pay tribute to the music of Cirque du Soleil and will feature a choir of 70 voices (trained by Grégory Charles) and 6 soloists accompanied by 28 musicians. The audience will hear signers Audrey Brisson-Jutras, Dominic Dagenais, Mathieu Lavoie, Anna Liani, Francine Poitras and Roxanne Potvin interpreting some of the songs that have defined the music of Cirque du Soleil shows of the past 30 years.

Ste-Croix worked with Alain Vinet, a DJ, musical producer and Cirque’s in-house musical director, to create this event. Vinet has worked on several other Cirque shows, including Amaluna and Totem, in various musical roles. “He’s done a wonderful job over the years,” Ste-Croix said. “So we offered him this possibility of gathering together all the music that covers the 30 years of Cirque du Soleil and putting the whole concept of music and chorus and singers into a format of a concert which will be played live.”

Although the venue was chosen for its wonderful acoustics as well as its spectacular architecture, the concert will not be recorded. Soundtracks of all the shows are already available on CD. And there won’t be any acrobatic numbers, but 40 costumed Cirque characters will be present.

One musical excerpt has been chosen from each of the 35 Cirque shows produced since the company’s inception in 1984. These include a Beatles song from the Las Vegas show LOVE and a Michael Jackson number from Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour, as well as original music composed for the shows by René Dupéré, Benoît Jutras and others. Two to four musical minutes will be allotted for each show.

Q. What was the original idea for this project?

“This idea was born during a creative summit about music. It was held in St-Jean Baptiste church five years ago. An organ and voice performance has been presented and it provoqued a strong emotion. Since then, the idea of presenting Cirque du Soleil music is in the air.” […] «For the 30th, we wanted to offer something different. This idea natturaly came back”

Q. What’s the inspirations?

“We wanted to put music to the fore. Cirque du Soleil music is extremely rich but is always supporting acrobatics acts. This time, music is the star of the evening. This will be a totally new way to experience those musical works”

Q. How did you choose the music?

“We wanted to follow Cirque du Soleil evolution. We are then presenting the song on a chronological basis. All our shows will be represented. We chose the pieces based on the effect they will produce in the church and on the effect our hundred participants , singers and musicians, will produce.”

Q. What is the show universe

“We chose to illustrate the Cirque du Soleil evolution by comparing with the stage of life. Our dear Zoé will be the connection during this whole story. We will see her at different stage of her life and feel the variety of emotion that comes with such a journey.”

The main Montreal celebration of Cirque du Soleil’s 30th anniversary was the opening night of Kurios in April. It was followed by a big party for employees in June. Other celebrations were held elsewhere in connection with the 18 Cirque shows currently playing around the world.

One other Montreal event will be held next month: the launching of a 30th-anniversary book. Ste-Croix described it as “really picture-driven.” The book will consist mainly of backstage photos taken of all the shows, by one photographer, since 1987.

THE TEAM – 45DEGREES Events, a company of Cirque du Soleil

CREATIVE TEAM

Guy Laliberté – Artistic Guide
Jean-François Bouchard – Artistic Guide
Gilles Ste-Croix – 30th Ambassador
Véronique Dussault – Event Designer
Alain Vinet – Musical Director
Thierry ANgers – Assistant Musical Director
Frédéric Chiasson – Arranger, Orchestrater & Band Leader
Gregory Charles – Artistic Director Choir (Chœurs du Nouveau Monde)
Claude Chaput – Pre-Concert Arranger
Clara Antoun – Musical Coordinator
Benoît Groulx – Music Consultant
Mathieu Parisien – Sound Designer
Bruno Rafie – Lighting Designer

PRODUCTION TEAM

Yasmine Khalil – Executive Producer
Patrice Poulin – Operations Director
Denyse Ostiguy – Delegate Producer
Geneviève Lussier – Production Manager
Serge Poupart – Technical Director

Find out more information here:
http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/30-anniversaire-concert/default.aspx

{ SOURCE: CirqueClub }