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T h e U n o f f i c i a l
C i r q u e d u S o l e i l N e w s l e t t e r
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E X P A N D E D I S S U E
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VOLUME 9, NUMBER 7 OCTOBER 2009 ISSUE #69e
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Bonjour et bienvenue! Greetings and welcome to another addition of
Fascination!, the Unofficial Cirque du Soleil Newsletter.
We have a wonderful issue in store for you this month - an exclusive
interview with Violaine Corradi, composer of three Cirque du Soleil
productions to date (Dralion, Varekai and ZAIA)! Our very own
Keith Johnson tracked her down via phone from Seattle all the way
to Macao for this very special phone interview. Don't miss it in
our FEATURES section!
As always we have a number of goodies to explore as a clip of
interesting and intriguing articles, pictures and videos were
shared with the fanbase through Cirque du Soleil's various social
widgets. In turn we have collected those to share with you, which
you'll find in our OUTREACH section.
Well, that about wraps up this intro. Now, onto the issue!
Join us on the web at:
< www.cirquefascination.com >
Realy Simple Syndication (RSS) Feed (News Only):
< http://www.cirquefascination.com/?feed=rss2 >
- Ricky "Richasi" Russo
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CONTENTS
===========
o) Cirque Buzz -- News, Rumours & Sightings
o) Itinéraire -- Tour/Show Information
* Touring Shows -- Productions under the Big Top
* Resident Shows -- Performed en Le Théâtre
* Venue Shows -- Arena & Seasonal Productions
o) Outreach -- Updates from Cirque's Social Widgets
* Club Cirque -- This Month at CirqueClub
* Networking -- Cirque on Twitter, Facebook & MySpace
* Telemajik -- Cirque on YouTube & Television
* Gatherings -- CirqueCon, Celebri & More!
o) Compartments -- A Peek Behind the Curtain
* Didyaknow? -- Facts About Cirque
* Historia -- Cirque du Soleil's History
o) Fascination! Features
*) "Violaine Corradi: Working for Joy"
By: Keith Johnson - Seattle, Washington (USA)
{Issue Exclusive}
*) THE BEATLES: "From Me to You" [EXPANDED]
A Special Reprint from the Wall Street Journal
*) Interview: David Pelletier Mystère Bassist [EXPANDED]
A Special Reprint from FretSpot
o) Next Issue
o) Parting Quote
o) Subscription Information
o) Copyright & Disclaimer
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CIRQUE BUZZ -- NEWS, RUMOURS & SIGHTINGS
=======================================================================
Saltimbanco Falters?
{Sep.02.2009}
-----------------------------------------------
Weve often wondered how well an arena show does during its
brief stops and now the Columbus Dispatch, a news source in the
Columbus, Ohio area where Saltimbanco stopped recently, sheds a
little light on that subject - unfortunately its not a bright
one.
* * *
Cirque du Soleils recent tour of Saltimbanco didnt do as well
as previous Cirque productions in Columbus. The French Canadian
art-circus show sold 25,851 tickets during its two-week run in
mid-August at Nationwide Arena.
More than 75,000 people saw Cirques Dralion here in 2003, and
about 84,000 attended Varekai in 2005 both in monthlong tent
runs in the Arena District. More than 61,000 people saw Corteo,
which had a monthlong tent run in 2007 at the Ohio Expo Center.
Although the poor economy has affected ticket sales, Cirque du
Soleil plans to continue its pattern of visiting Columbus every
two years or so, according to Reggie Lyons, media manager for
Cirque touring shows. "It was lower than our expectations,"
Lyons said, "but the economy is affecting the entertainment
business across the country."
{SOURCE: The Columbus Dispatch}
OVO: "A High-Flying Flea Circus" [EXPANDED]
{Sep.03.2009}
-----------------------------------------------
Flea circuses were traditionally mere sideshows to real human
circuses, but with Cirque du Soleil's new show, these mini-
athletes and their buggy brethren finally show their stuff in
the centre ring. And you don't even need a magnifying glass to
see their tricks.
Ovo, the Quebec circus powerhouse's latest touring production,
gives us an infestation of acrobats, strongmen and
contortionists dressed as insects.
There are, for instance, six little red ants juggling giant
slices of kiwi and mini cobs of corn with their feet. It's like
a dramatic recreation of Toronto's recent garbage strike,
without the horrible smell.
As impressive as that fancy footwork and the diabolo-spinning
firefly are, Ovo does cement my general feeling that watching
people throw objects in the air is never going to be as exciting
as watching objects throw people in the air.
The sublime, soaring pleasures in Ovo include daring young bugs
on flying trapezes as well other suspended equipment like the
banquine, Russian swings and ropes. My favourite aerial antics
involved a couple of love bugs who emerged from a cocoon of
fabric and engage in a swooping butterfly romance.
The most jaw-dropping, however, was the concluding act that
combines trampolines with rock climbing, a real don't-try-this-
at-home moment.
Liz Vandal's colourful costumes look like caterpillars, fruit
flies and other household pests crossed with superheroes. Or
super-villains in the case of the spider, which performs the
most impressive individual act - blithely riding a unicycle
upside-down on a "slack wire," a not-so-tight rope that droops
between two posts.
Stick insects that came lumbering in on stilts were particularly
impressive to watch, even though they provoked an unfortunate
flashback to the Ents in the Lord of the Rings musical. The
grasshoppers' ingenious costumes came with extra legs attached.
(The contortionist insects, on the other hand, only seem to have
extra legs attached.)
Ovo has a plot that, unusually for Cirque, is fairly easy to
follow. A Foreigner Fly with an egg strapped to his back
stumbles upon this insect world. There, his egg is lost and he
falls in love with a sassy Ladybug. He must do battle with and
befriend a clown-insect (which, the program tells me, is named
Master Flippo) in order to win Ladybug's heart and get his
beloved Ovo back.
The Foreigner Fly - the individual performers are not named in
the press materials - borrows a lot of his movements not from
traditional clown, but from classic cartoons. He's more Bugs
than a bug. At times he seemed to be channeling Mask-era Jim
Carrey: While this made me want to pluck his wings off with a
pair of pliers at first, I eventually found his attention-
seeking antics somewhat endearing.
Composer Berna Ceppas has added a pleasing electro-edge to
Cirque's usual gibberish muzak. And humour too: La Cucaracha
gets a sonic reference, despite the absence of cockroaches in
the show.
Deborah Colker, the Brazilian choreographer, is in charge of Ovo
as writer and director. It's not entirely polished: Finicky
dance elements she's added tend to slow down the action and
sometimes draw focus away from the actual tricks on display,
while the sightlines are not always perfect - at one point, a
bug carrying a giant leaf briefly blocked my view of a group of
tumbling red-and-yellow bugs.
Really this is - I suppose literally - nitpicking. Ovo is
another very satisfying Cirque du Soleil experience, the only
downside to the feats on display being how they play havoc with
your personal body image. After the media preview in Toronto,
CBC Radio host Jian Ghomeshi tweeted of the contortions that
"most of it made me feel fat." Me too a tad, but I try not to
let it bug me.
{SOURCE: The Globe and Mail}
Alegria: "A Lovely, Vicarious Experience" [EXPANDED]
{Sep.03.2009}
----------------------------------------------------
Perhaps, in some former incarnation, humans had wings and soared
through the skyor perhaps its because we are fundamentally
such earthbound creatures that our hearts yearn toward the
heavens and our bodies itch to fly free. The closest most of us
can come, however, is watching others of our species break the
bonds of gravity and swoop through the air with the greatest of
ease.
Cirque du Soleils Alegria, at the Times Union Center through
Sunday, offers one of the most lovely vicarious experiences of
flying you can get outside of a dream. Its flight set to music,
in a strange and magical world that almost makes you believe you
could do it, too.
As it celebrates its 25th anniversary, Cirque du Soleil has 19
productions running concurrently through the United States and
the world (seven in Las Vegas alone). The Quebec-based company,
which began as a group of street performers, has long since
perfected its basic formula, which combines creative variations
of traditional circus acts with sophisticated clowning,
performed to live music from around the globe and set in an
undisclosed location somewhere between a fairyland and a freak
show.
The set for Alegria (Spanish for jubilation) is a funhouse
playground, with an arched top level above a stage that curves
like a hallucination, sprouting staircases and slides and hung
with glowing lanterns that look like miniature versions of
Cinderellas carriage. Two wide strips of floor slide away in
the first act to reveal long trampolines, which catapult the
performers into jaw-dropping strings of back flips and airborne
somersaults.
Trapeze artists swing, spin, catch each other and bungee-jump
from elastic cords. Fire-twirlers toss burning torches as if
they were batons, acrobats flip from beam to beam and
contortionists bend and fold like spineless amphibians. The
universe of Alegria is also peopled with kings who are half-
beast, their glistening courtiers, a hunchback and herds of
feathered sylphs. Younger audience members particularly enjoyed
a pair of endearing clowns who communicate in a sort of squeaky
Franglais.
Cirque du Soleil was among the first, and is still among the
best, to lay claim to that uneasy, intriguing place where the
spectacular brushes against the grotesque, where humans do
unnatural things no humans should be able to doand the rest of
us watch from the sidelines, our bodies in the seats, our
spirits aloft on the flying trapeze.
{SOURCE: The Albany Times-Union}
Guy Laliberté to Broadcast from Space
{Sep.03.2009}
-----------------------------------------------
The founder of Canadas Cirque du Soleil announced hell host
a two-hour show from the International Space Station next month.
Guy Laliberte, 50, made the announcement in Star City, Russia,
where he is in training to become Canadas first space tourist
in a Sept. 30 launch, The (Montreal) Gazette reported Thursday.
The Quebec billionaire reportedly paid $35 million to be on the
mission.
Laliberte said the Oct. 9 show would focus on climate change and
water conservation and include live segments from 14 cities,
starting in Montreal. The other cities are Moscow, Santa Monica,
Calif., New York, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Marrakesh, Sydney,
Tokyo, Tampa, Fla., Mexico City; Rio de Janeiro, Paris and
London, the report said.
Among the celebrities invited, but not confirmed, are Montreal-
born astronaut Julie Payette, Canadian environmentalist David
Suzuki, former U.S. vice-president Al Gore, U2, Shakira and Peter
Gabriel, Laliberte said.
The show is scheduled to be carried live in partnership with
AOL.com and the onedrop.org Web site, the report said.
{SOURCE: UPI}
LVRJ Reviews KÀ... Again [EXPANDED]
{Sep.04.2009}
-----------------------------------------------
Mike Weatherford of the Las Vegas Review-Journal takes another
look at Cirque du Soleils KÀ today.
* * *
See "Ka" again to remind yourself of the promise Las Vegas
entertainment held in 2005.
The skys-the-limit mentality wasnt confined to high-rise
condos and CityCenter. It also was clear that with Cirque du
Soleils checkbook pointing the way, the Strips ability to
custom-build a title was going to lead to some amazing places.
After "Ka" showed us a stage no longer burdened by gravity, what
was next? Strapping the whole audience to a motion simulator?
Alas, Cirques Asian-fantasy epic set a high-water mark. With an
admitted budget of $165 million insiders say it went north of
$200 million "Ka" remains the costliest title on the Strip.
"Love" came in at about $150 million in 2006, before the economy
turned south. Last year, Cirque chairman Guy Laliberte made one
thing clear about the upcoming Elvis show at CityCenter: It will
be "very tight with the budget."
So you'd think "Ka" would be the city's flagship. But most
locals rank it at least third behind "Love" and "O," and it
seems to inspire a "love it or hate it" reaction.
Here's the acid test. The stagecraft creates a ship bobbing like
a cork during a storm at sea, with characters flung overboard.
One is the nursemaid (played by both Gail Gilbert and Jeana
Blackman) of one of the twins at the center of the action. When
the twin (Jennifer Haight) dives to the rescue, the action cuts
like a movie, showing the two in the murky ocean depths, the
twin rescuing the nanny to the wistful strains of violin and
piano.
High-wire acrobatics are involved, to be sure; the performers
dangle in front of a 90-foot video wall. But the trickery is in
service of the illusion. This is Cirque's first attempt at
linear storytelling, cross-cutting between the separated twins
on parallel adventures. If it works for you, then you are in
sync with director Robert Lepage's grand opera sensibility.
(He's now updating Wagner's Ring cycle for the Metropolitan
Opera.)
"Ka" has been saddled with the reputation for being confusing
and/or pretentious. The accusations have merit, though
"pretentious" can be a good thing and the confusion has been
worked on.
It's now easier to tell the twins apart, and an aerial adagio --
very old-school Cirque -- has been added to emphasize that
romance blooms between the female twin and a Tarzan-like jungle
prince (Pierre-Luc Sylvain). (It came at the expense of a stump-
jumping sequence that was perhaps too hard on the knees 10 times
a week.)
Still, the biggest problem with "Ka" was apparent just by
stepping into the theater for a recent re-visit.
It is, in fact, the theater.
It's beautiful but too wide, the aisles too gently sloping. If
you sit in sections 201, 202 and 203, behind the central
dividing aisle, you aren't going to see the faces that are more
crucial to this title than "O," where the audience is similarly
distanced.
"Love" corrected this mistake, with in-the-round staging making
it clear how much more nuance would carry if the audience were
closer.
"Ka" still offers things you won't see anywhere else in the
world. The main stage turns out to be movable, lifted into
various positions by an unseen gantry arm. It tilts for a chase
on a "mountainside," where the pursuers are sent sliding into
the abyss below when they can't grab the pegs that snap up or
vanish in an instant.
It's covered with sand (or some facsimile) for an amusing scene
in which shipwrecked characters interact with beach-creature
puppets created by Michael Curry of "Lion King" fame. When the
scene ends, the stage simply tilts to dump the sand.
And at the end, the stage goes completely vertical for a
climactic battle that allows us to watch from overhead. Again,
if you buy into the illusion, you can forget about the
technology. (If not, you can try to figure out how so many
people can leap around in midair without getting their guide
wires crossed.)
For all the big moments, from a flying machine to an acrobat
running on top of a giant wheel, LePage still gets a big
reaction from two characters making shadow puppets. It puts the
technology in perspective, and is, ironically, one of the few
moments of theater magic that carries all the way to the back
row.
{SOURCE: Las Vegas Review-Journal}
CDS a "Hippy Circus"? [EXPANDED]
{Sep.04.2009}
-----------------------------------------------
Kelly Nestruck of The Guardian, a newspaper based in London,
took a moment to reflect upon Cirque du Soleil and its business
recently.
* * *
In 1984, a group of 20 street performers put together a circus
show in the small town of Baie-Saint-Paul in Quebec, to
celebrate the 450th anniversary of explorer Jacques Cartier's
claiming of Canada for France. Few could have guessed that this
ragtag bunch of French-Canadian hippies, calling themselves the
Cirque du Soleil ("circus of the sun"), would soon set off on a
journey of world domination.
Twenty-five years later, Cirque du Soleil's big-budget, animal-
free circuses are Canada's largest cultural export, employing
more than 4,000 employees from more than 40 countries and
pulling in an estimated C$800m (£440m) a year in revenue. Over
the course of 2009, the company will present 20 different shows
on four continents. That includes eight touring productions as
well as permanent ones scattered from Macau to Orlando. There
are already six shows in Las Vegas alone; the seventh (a
musical-circus hybrid based around the music of Elvis Presley)
will appear in December.
Cirque's often pretentious, new-age concepts are not to
everyone's taste; they were memorably lampooned in a 2000
edition of The Simpsons, when the family visited the Cirque du
Purée only to find a clown lamenting: "I cannot get the lid off
my jar of rainbows." But the troupe's feats of strength, agility
and derring-do have found a vast, seemingly insatiable audience.
The company estimates that more than 15 million people will see
a Cirque show in 2009. And while clouds have gathered over the
rest of the economy, for this troupe the sky seems to be the
limit. Indeed, founder Guy Laliberté, one of a select club of
billionaires to increase his net worth over the past year, is
preparing to blast into space later this month as the world's
ninth space tourist; or, to use the nomenclature he prefers,
"humanitarian space explorer". The exploit is estimated to be
costing him a cool US$35m (£21m).
Laliberté rather likes people with stratospheric ambitions. At a
time when most businesses have reasonably modest expectations,
Carmen Ruest, one of the original Cirque pioneers and now the
company's "director of creation", blithely told me: "The word
impossible does not exist here."
The company's president and CEO, Daniel Lamarre the pinstriped
executive to Laliberté's spacesuit is similarly upbeat.
"What's happening in this recession is that people are not
buying houses, they're not buying a new car, they're not
travelling as much but they need to be entertained," he says.
"In general, show business is doing well. We're touched like
everybody else, but not as much as other sectors. That allows us
to invest in the growth of the company."
Ovo, a new touring show with an insect theme, opened in Toronto
this week and will soon be followed by two ambitious permanent
projects. One, tentatively called Vaudeville, will preview in
Chicago in November before heading to New York. Then, in
December, Cirque will open the Las Vegas Elvis show a musical-
circus follow-up to Love, its wildly successful partnership with
the Beatles. Earlier this summer, Los Angeles city council
agreed to a plan to sponsor a loan of US$30m (£18m) to retrofit
the Kodak theatre the venue used for the Oscars ceremony for
a new Cirque show tied to Hollywood's history. Subject to
Washington's approval, the money would come from a federal job-
creation programme.
The US government needn't be anxious about its investment,
reckons Lamarre. "I just renewed my contract for Mystère for
five more years," he says, referring to the first Cirque show to
set up shop in Las Vegas, at the Treasure Island hotel and
casino. "The owner said, 'We're probably going to keep this show
forever.'"
Some have wondered whether that's a bit too ambitious, even for
Cirque. As its empire has expanded, the company has attracted
criticism for producing shows that are too similar. "There has
been some dilution of the quality of their product," David
Rosenwasser, a former circus executive, told the New York Times
in the spring. "I'm not as awed as I used to be. The shows are
almost indistinguishable to me." The Guardian's dance critic,
Judith Mackrell, admits she simply doesn't get the Cirque
phenomenon. "However bendy the contortionists, however bouncy
the acrobats, however many risks the aerialists take, they
always appear too buffed, coiffed and airbrushed to seem real,"
she wrote in 2007.
The company has also been encountering problems off the stage,
courtesy of Montreal journalist Ian Halperin, who published an
unauthorised biography of Laliberté this summer. Halperin
describes it as "a motivational piece" about how a street
performer ended up as Forbes's 261st richest man in the world.
But, perhaps predictably, the Canadian press latched on to more
salacious details lingering on stories about wild parties that
Laliberté used to throw at his mansion in Saint-Bruno, Quebec.
The company was not impressed: such tales from its past do not
fit well with a global, family-friendly entertainment brand that
has Disney-like ambitions. Cirque's lawyer says the company
won't waste their time on "gossip", but had one run of the book
recalled over an unauthorised, copyrighted cover image. Other
lawsuits are pending.
And yet Cirque does, rather charmingly, cling to other vestiges
from its peripatetic past. Carmen Ruest, sometime stilt-walker
who is now "director of creation", worked on the costumes for
Cirque's first show. "It was a very special time," she
remembers. "Crazy, but it was a beautiful craziness." She
recalls Cirque's 1987 trip down to California its first to the
United States as a turning point for the troupe. "We were in
debt, and every penny we had we put in gas to go to LA," she
recalls. "If it hadn't worked, we would have had to hitchike
back."
Ruest argues that money has changed Cirque for the better. "For
people like me who started passing the hat to pay for dinner,
it's a big difference," she says. "Of course, the business has
changed things, but it's changed so that we can create more. Guy
said he wanted to bring positive energy to the world. That's
still true we just have bigger means."
{SOURCE: The Guardian, UK}
Cirque Announces Banana Shpeel!
{Sep.09.2009}
-----------------------------------------------
Cirque Vaudeville is
Banana Shpeel!
Banana Shpeel is a roller-coaster mix of styles that blends
comedy with tap, hip hop, eccentric dance and slapstick, all
linked by a hilarious narrative that ignites a succession of
wacky adventures. This is not circus, or a musical or a variety
show, or even vaudeville. It is Banana Shpeel!
Propelled by crazy humour and intense choreography, Banana
Shpeel plunges us into the world of Shmelky, a cruel and
irritable producer who dangles fame and fortune in front of
Emmett, an innocent and romantic actor who has come to audition
for him. Emmett soon finds himself trapped in a flamboyant,
anarchic world where Shmelky sows terror and reigns supreme.
Emmett falls in love with the beautiful Katie and meets a bunch
of absurd characters, including the strange Banana Man. But who
is this mysterious Banana Man and how can Emmett escape the
clutches of Shmelky and his henchmen?
More to come!
Labor of LOVE Yields Amazing Beatles Treasures [EXPANDED]
{Sep.10.2009}
------------------------------------------------------------
Now it's 2009, and at "Love," between Beatles-inspired
acrobatics and aerial feats, 2,000 theatergoers per show hear
this audio of John Lennon, from his kitchen, in his arresting
and scratchy voice, singing that early stripped-down "Strawberry
Fields," easing into their ears from 6,341 speakers in-the-
round.
Lennon's simple little "Strawberry Fields" is one of many
pleasure gems that came to public being only because of "Love."
At times, the Cirque show also broadcasts previously unheard
dialogue recorded between Beatles in the studio.
To prepare for "Love," the entire Beatles catalog was digitally
remastered from original 1960s tapes. Of that catalog, "Love"
makes use of a few dozen songs, plus snippets from scores more.
Now that whole digitally remastered catalog of Beatles songs is
getting released to an international audience.
On Wednesday -- 9/9/09 -- the entire Beatles collection of
albums will be rereleased in painstakingly, digitally remastered
form, the process that began with "Love" years ago.
At the same time on Wednesday, Electronic Arts releases "The
Beatles: Rock Band," perhaps the biggest music video game in
history. It too features many digitally remastered Beatles tunes
that came about during the "Love" fieldwork.
In the fashion of the music business, the Beatles occasionally
come and go in vogue. But this time, the sheer quality of their
remastered music could redefine how Beatles fans and audiophiles
regard the Liverpool lads' masterworks.
"In time, these remasters will become the definitive statement,"
the noted music curmudgeon and music industry opinion-setter Bob
Lefsetz wrote recently.
"There's nothing in this boxed set that you haven't heard
before," Lefsetz told followers via e-mail. "But now, it's come
into focus, like someone granted you magic glasses that allowed
you to finally see the world."
Lefsetz says the clarity of the remasters at times gives him
goose bumps, blows his mind, and makes him feel as if John
Lennon were still alive.
"'I Will' sounds like Paul McCartney phoned you up out of the
blue, said he was in the neighborhood and could he stop by and
play you a few tunes? He's here! This is not music made by a
machine, but real human beings."
If you were alive when "Twist and Shout" and its B-side "There's
a Place" came out, "you'll cry listening to this album," Lefsetz
says.
As for "The Beatles" video game, it is poised to outgross most
movies ever made, if you count peripherals for sale.
The game disc, "The Beatles: Rock Band," costs $60 for Wii, Xbox
360 and PS 3, packaged with 45 digital remasters. But any one
Beatles "completist" fan could immediately sink up to $750 into
the game by buying the limited edition box set ($250); plastic
replica Beatles guitars ($100 each); three extra microphones
($15-$50 each) for use in three-part harmonies; and microphone
stands ($40); not to mention future downloadable songs at
several dollars each.
All this remastered music for CDs and the video game came out of
the years' long remastering for "Love," says "Love's" sound pro
Gavin Whiteley.
It was a very delicate process, transferring from audio tape to
computer nuggets, because over time, the kinds of magnetic audio
tapes the Beatles recorded on begins to stick together. If you
simply place the tape on a reel and press play, the tape will
stick together and rip portions of the sounds off of the tape.
So Beatles music handlers at Apple studios in England placed the
tapes in an oven to firm up the tapes. That sounds weird to a
layman, but it works.
"The engineers took every tape and baked it," Whiteley says,
"meaning they put it in an oven at a certain temperature for a
certain time."
Engineers did this for everything -- first takes of songs,
second takes of songs, alternate versions, conversations between
Beatles -- the band's whole career.
Initially, "Love" benefited greatly. The show features a rare
George Harrison acoustic version of "While My Guitar Gently
Weeps," and the song is accompanied by a string-section swell
that Harrison scored for the show before he died, at his wife
Olivia's urging. She thought an orchestra would complement his
acoustic take.
Since the Beatles in digital sound in "Love" has been so unique,
musicians have requested tours of the booth where Whiteley acts
as conductor, as he oversees a massive computer soundboard.
Whiteley and peers at Cirque have given soundboard tours to Mick
Fleetwood, Genesis, Steve Perry, Quentin Tarantino and Fergie
together (on their joint birthday), the Pussycat Dolls,
Shaquille O'Neal, Juliette Lewis, Aerosmith, ZZ Top and Tom
Hanks.
"They're interested in seeing what's behind the curtain. And
what's behind the curtain is a bunch of computers and touch
screens and communication equipment," Whiteley says.
"I did not see George Clooney back here. It might have been my
day off."
Paul McCartney toured the sound room, once. Whiteley got him to
sign his parents' "Sgt. Pepper's" vinyl album cover. And he
asked Sir Paul if he'd take a photo with him.
"Sure," McCartney said. "Why don't you sit on my lap."
"My eyes were open and I had a look like a deer in headlights,"
Whiteley says. "I didn't know if he was serious, or if there's
some sort of penalty for sitting on the lap of an actual
knight."
Whiteley decided to just stand next to Paul.
Giles Martin, son of Beatles producer George Martin, also gave
top secret "Love" tours to a half-dozen brainiacs from
Harmonix/MTV Games, the makers of "Rock Band."
But no one gets to see the room where the digitally remastered
songs are stored at "Love." Those remasters are worth tens of
millions. And imagine if a DJ, like Danger Mouse, got his hands
on digital Beatles tunes that could be separated and respun into
bootlegged songs. (Danger Mouse faced Beatles wrath some years
ago when he did something just like that.)
So the remasters are stored in a room called "the vault" that's
a "physically impenetrable room that we're connected to by some
fiber optic lines," Whiteley says.
The soundboard room where Whiteley works is so pivotal to "Love"
that a second music technician works next to him, largely to
make sure "Love" would not be interrupted if, say, Whiteley
stroked out and died during a show.
"Not joking," Whiteley says. "One of the reasons why the other
person in that (secondary) chair has been trained to run this
is, 'What if I die?'"
Whiteley stresses that safety-obsessed Cirque trains employees
for emergency medical situations. But I ask him what would
happen if the music of "Love" somehow stopped at the exact
moment that Whiteley keeled over. Would a co-worker save him or
the show?
"That's interesting. We haven't had that conversation," Whiteley
says and jokes, "I wonder what would happen."
Yet another Beatles moment is coming to Las Vegas in a few days.
On Friday, classic rock band Cheap Trick is prepping its own
tribute to the Beatles, a "Sgt. Pepper's" run-through featuring
an orchestra and noted musical conductor Edwin Outwater. That's
at the Hilton on Sept. 13-15, 17-19 and 21-23.
Whiteley, originally from Canada, is a keyboard player with a
master's degree in music. He used to perform in his own "Sgt.
Pepper's" tribute band in Canada.
Whiteley says he knows how difficult it must be for Cheap Trick
to replicate the album, with its strings, horns and unusual
sounds. It's doable, he says. But "Sgt. Pepper's" is a classic
of classics. It has to be done right.
After all, many Beatles fans know every note by heart.
And those fans are everywhere. Whiteley was reminded of that a
few years ago, when he and his wife, Kate (a publicist for
"Love"), took a boat trip on a tributary of the Amazon, then
settled into a lodge.
"Having left a lodge that was completely off the grid, our cook
pulled out a flute and started playing 'Hey Jude,'" he says.
"When Kate and I went to Peru in 2007, we traveled thousands of
miles. We got to the airport. We took a train to the base of
Machu Picchu and, as we got off the train, we heard 'Eleanor
Rigby' being played on Peruvian flutes over the train's PA
system.
"I thought, "Really? I came all this way and the Beatles are
still here.'
"It just makes you realize -- of all the bands in the world, of
all the music that transcends culture and generations and
language -- the Beatles are it. The song that he knew: It wasn't
Elvis. It wasn't Cheap Trick. It was the Beatles."
On Wednesday, as unlikely as it may seem, the Beatles get
redefined with a catalog made crystal clear, and with a video
game that will touch millions and earn millions more.
Once again, the future of music is what's come before.
{SOURCE: Doug Elfman, Las Vegas Review-Journal}
Banana Shpeel on "Americas Got Talent"
{Sep.15.2009}
-----------------------------------------------
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 14 /PRNewswire/ The latest Cirque du Soleil
production, Banana Shpeel, will perform a sneak peek performance
on the season finale of "Americas Got Talent" airing on
Wednesday, September 16 on NBC. The specially-choreographed
presentation will feature 16 performers.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090914/LA75327-a)
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090914/LA75327-b)
Banana Shpeel, the brand new theatrical production from Cirque
du Soleil and MSG Entertainment, will perform for the first time
ever in Chicago at The Chicago Theatre from November 19, 2009
through January 3, 2010. Following Chicago, the show will debut
in New York at The Beacon Theatre in February 2010.
Written and directed by David Shiner, Banana Shpeel is a roller-
coaster mix of styles that blends comedy with tap, hip hop,
eccentric dance and slapstick, all linked by a narrative that
ignites a succession of wacky adventures.
{SOURCE: Reuters}
CirqueFAQ v3.5.0 Now Available!
{Sep.15.2009}
-----------------------------------------------
An update to CirqueFAQ is now available.
In this update: New show information has been added for OVO,
information pertaining to newest CDs (ZAIA and Cirque 25), as
well as Justin Time Records releases, also updated name of
Vaudeville to Banana Shpeel, added CD album run-times and CD
track listings w/times, and more!
You can find the new version of the FAQ at the following link:
< http://www.richasi.com/Cirque/soleil.txt >
Stats:
o) No. of Pages: 111
o) File Size: 241,629bytes (236k)
o) v3.5.0 - Sep.15.2009
Guy Laliberté Going to Space!
{Sep.28.2009}
-----------------------------------------------
LONGUEUIL, QUEBEC-(Marketwire - Sept. 28, 2009) - Media
representatives are invited to the Canadian Space Agency (CSA)
for a replay of the launch of the Russian Soyuz TMA-16 rocket
with Guy Laliberte, founder of Cirque du Soleil, aboard. This
media briefing is set to begin at 12:00 p.m. EDT with Daniel
Lamarre, President and Chief Executive Officer from Cirque du
Soleil, who will be joining Steve MacLean, President of the CSA,
by phone from Russia.
Journalists who cannot be on site at CSA will be able to watch
the event live on our Web site at www.asc-csa.gc.ca
The launch of the Russian Soyuz TMA-16 rocket with Guy Laliberte
is scheduled for 3:14a.m. EDT on September 30, 2009, from
Baikonur, Kazakhstan.
NASA TV will broadcast the launch live. Visit NASAs website at
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/
What: Launch of Russian Soyuz
When: Wednesday, September 30th, 2009 at 12:00 p.m. EDT
Who: Steve MacLean, CSA President; Daniel Lamarre,
President and Chief Executive Officer, Cirque du
Soleil
Schedule:
12:00pm Event starts - Brief comments by Steve MacLean
12:05pm Replay of the launch of Russian Soyuz vehicle
12:10pm Comments by Daniel Lamarre from Moscow (via phone)
12:20pm Question period with Daniel Lamarre
12:30pm One-on-one interviews with Daniel Lamarre (by
phone) and Steve MacLean (onsite)
01:00pm End of event
Note: Journalists may contact Chantal Cote from Cirque du Soleil
at 514-723-7646, extension 7326, to book one-on-one phone
interviews with Mr. Lamarre. Please be advised that Mr. Lamarre
will only be available for interviews between 12:30 p.m. and
1:00 p.m. that day.
Cirque Reinvents Boutique [EXPANDED]
{Sep.29.2009}
-----------------------------------------------
While Cirque du Soleils shows have been reviewed many times
over, an overview of its retail experience has generally been
absent - until now. Alex Davis from Retail Customer Experience
checks into Cirque du Soleils new "Bistro" retail marketplace
concept, which launched with OVO this past spring:
* * *
Cirque du Soleil shows are synonymous with creative design,
elegant acrobatics and unrivaled performances that meld circus
with theatrical storytelling in a way that has made it world
famous.
Cirque's 25-year history of classic shows have a passionate
following of patrons who enjoy purchasing a reminder of their
show experience at touring shows and permanent installations
including everything from custom clothing, hand-crafted art,
DVD's and various other manner of memorabilia. A dark blue
custom fixture system based on the mechanics of road cases
previously served as the display environment, however it left
the merchandising and concessions space disconnected from the
fantasy-like Cirque experience. Rodney Landi, vice president of
merchandising and hospitality for Cirque du Soleil, recognized
an opportunity to expand the performance experience into the
concession and retail shop; creating a marketplace truly in sync
with the brand.
"While immediately functional, we felt the existing system did
not quite create the ambiance and spirit which would help to
extend our patrons unique experience outside of the show."
After interviewing several design companies, Landi engaged
Miller Zell, a retail design and strategy firm based in Atlanta,
Georgia, to develop a concept for the retail and bistro tent.
With Artful Living as Cirque's driving design concept, Miller
Zell came up with the theme of "Souk du Soleil." Souk, which
translates to marketplace, was the theme that led design of a
retail and bistro front-of-house intended to be as theatrical
and captivating as Cirque itself.
The goal for Miller Zell was to create a retail environment that
delivered a complete brand experience, from concept, development
and engineering through to production and implementation. The
challenge, however, was devising a system for a traveling show
that would be assembled and disassembled repeatedly over several
months of cross-continental travel.
Understanding how to go about that required Miller Zell's design
and strategy teams to immerse themselves in the culture of
Cirque du Soleil, learning about touring logistics, the Cirque
du Soleil brand philosophy, show themes and building a symbiotic
relationship with Landi's merchandising group.
"I chose Miller Zell," said Landi, "because I was impressed by
the very different design approaches they had taken on other
projects, each of which reflected the objectives and specific
personalities of their clients."
In addition, Miller Zell's design had to be flexible enough to
adapt easily to show concepts that change annually. Keith
Curtis, vice president and director of design for Miller Zell,
worked intimately on the design of the project and describes the
marketplace concept as, "a multi-layered aesthetic in that it's
modern yet futuristic and historical all at once similar to
the ebb and flow of Cirque du Soleil performances."
The new bistro and retail marketplace first opened during the
world premiere of the "OVO" show in Montreal, Canada earlier
this year. Comprised of a lightweight, nearly tool-less, kit-of-
parts, it is currently traveling throughout North America with
the tour of "OVO." Cirque and Miller Zell intend to adapt the
concept to additional Cirque touring productions throughout the
world. The team is also in the process of adapting a similar
concept for various permanent Cirque installations throughout
the United States.
{SOURCE: retailcustomerexperience.com}
=======================================================================
ITINÉRAIRE -- TOUR/SHOW INFORMATION
=======================================================================
o) TOURING - Under the Big Top
{Corteo, Dralion, Koozå, OVO, Quidam & Varekai}
o) RESIDENT - en Le Théâtre
{Mystère, "O", La Nouba, Zumanity, KÀ, LOVE,
ZAIA, ZED & Believe}
o) VENUE - Arena & Seasonal Productions
{Saltimbanco, Alegría | Wintuk, Banana Shpeel}
NOTE:
.) While we make every effort to provide complete and accurate
touring dates and locations available, the information in
this section is subject to change without notice. As such,
the Fascination! Newsletter does not accept responsibility
for the accuracy of these listings.
.) Dates so marked (*) are not official until released by Cirque
du Soleil.
For current, up-to-the-moment information on Cirque's whereabouts,
please visit our website < http://www.CirqueFascination.com/ >.
---------------------------------
TOURING - Under the Big Top
---------------------------------
Online at: < http://www.cirquefascination.com/?page_id=39 >
Corteo:
Osaka, Japan -- Jul 29, 2009 to Oct 18, 2009
Tokyo, Japan -- Nov 4, 2009 to Jan 24, 2010
Fukuoka, Japan -- Feb 11, 2010 to Apr 4, 2010 (*)
Sendai, Japan -- Apr 21, 2010 to Jun 6, 2010 (*)
Dralion:
Monterrey, Mexico -- Sep 17, 2009 to Oct 11, 2009 (*)
Guadalajara, Mexico -- Oct 22, 2009 to Nov 15, 2009 (*)
Mexico City, Mexico -- Nov 26, 2009 to Jan 17, 2010
Kooza:
Denver, CO -- Aug 20, 2009 to Oct 4, 2009
Santa Monica, CA -- Oct 16, 2009 to Dec 20, 2009
Irvine, CA -- Jan 8, 2010 to Feb 14, 2010
San Diego, CA -- Feb 25, 2010 to Mar 28, 2010
Portland, OR -- Apr 9, 2010 to May 23, 2010 (*)
Seattle, WA -- Jun 3, 2010 to Jul 11, 2010 (*)
Vancouver, BC -- Jul 22, 2010 to TBA (*)
Houston, TX -- Sep 23, 2010 to Oct 31, 2010 (*)
Miami, FL -- Nov 18, 2010 to Dec 26, 2010 (*)
Ovo:
Toronto, ON -- Sep 3, 2009 to Nov 01, 2009
San Francisco, CA -- Nov 27, 2009 to Jan 24, 2010
San Jose, CA -- Feb 4, 2010 to Mar 21, 2010
Philadelphia, PA -- Apr 8, 2010 to May 16, 2010 (*)
New York, NY -- May 27, 2010 to Jul 4, 2010 (*)
Hartford, CT -- Jul 15, 2010 to Aug 15, 2010 (*)
Boston, MA -- TBA
Washington, DC -- Oct 14, 2010 to Nov 28, 2010 (*)
Atlanta, GA -- TBA
Quidam:
Salvador, BR -- Aug 13, 2009 to Sep 6, 2009 (*)
Brasília, BR -- Sep 18, 2009 to Oct 11, 2009
Belo Horizonte, BR -- Oct 23, 2009 to Nov 22, 2009 (*)
Curitiba, BR -- Dec 4, 2009 to Dec 27, 2009 (*)
Rio de Janeiro, BR -- Jan 8, 2010 to Feb 7, 2010 (*)
Sao Paulo, BR -- Feb 26, 2010 to May 2, 2010 (*)
Porto Alegre, BR -- May 27, 2010 to Jul 11, 2010 (*)
Buenos Aiers, AR -- Jul 23, 2010 to Aug 29, 2010 (*)
Santiago, CL -- Sep 11, 2010 to Oct 31, 2010 (*)
Varekai:
Hamburg, Germany -- Aug 28, 2009 to Oct 4, 2009 (*)
Moscow, Russia -- Oct 23, 2009 to Dec 31, 2009
London, UK -- Jan 6, 2010 to Jan 24, 2010
---------------------------------
RESIDENT - en Le Théâtre
---------------------------------
NOTE: (*) Prices are in United States Dollars (USD) unless otherwise
noted.
(*) Price reflected in brackets [] is inclusive of 10% Las Vegas
Entertainment Tax where applicable, but does not include
Sales Tax.
Online at: < http://www.cirquefascination.com/?page_id=40 >
Mystère:
Location: Treasure Island, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Saturday through Wednesday, Dark: Thursday/Friday
Two shows Nightly -
o Saturday: 7:00pm & 9:30pm
o Sunday: 4:30pm & 7:00pm
o Monday - Wednesday: 7:00pm & 9:30pm
2009 Ticket Prices:
o Category 1: $109.00
o Category 2: $99.00
o Category 3: $95.00
o Category 4: $79.00
o Category 6: $69.00
o Category 7: $60.00 (Limited View)
2009 Dark Dates:
o November 4
"O":
Location: Bellagio, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Wednesday through Sunday, Dark: Monday/Tuesday
Two shows Nightly - 7:30pm and 10:30pm
2009 Ticket Prices:
o Orchestra: $150.00 [$165.00]
o Loggia: $125.00 [$137.50]
o Balcony: $99.00 [$108.90]
o Limited View: $93.50 [102.85]
2009 Dark Dates:
o October 4
o December 7 - 22
La Nouba:
Location: Walt Disney World, Orlando (USA)
Performs: Tue through Sat, Dark: Sun/Mon
Two shows Nightly - 6:00pm and 9:00pm
2009 Ticket Prices (adults) / (child 3-9):
o Category 0: $117.00 / $94.00 (+Tax)
o Category 1: $102.00 / $82.00 (+Tax)
o Category 2: $83.00 / $67.00 (+Tax)
o Category 3: $67.00 / $54.00 (+Tax)
o Category 4: $53.00 / $43.00 (+Tax)
2009 Dark Dates:
o November 17
Zumanity:
Location: New York-New York, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Tuesday through Saturday, Dark: Sunday/Monday
Two Shows Nightly - 7:30pm and 10:30pm
2009 Ticket Prices (18+ Only!):
o Category 1: $135.00
o Category 2: $99.00
o Category 3: $79.00
o Category 4: $69.00
o Category 5: $69.00 (Obstructed View)
2009 Dark Dates:
o October 19 - 21
o December 1 - 14
KÀ:
Location: MGM Grand, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Fri through Tue, Dark Wed/Thu
Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm
2009 Ticket Prices (adult) / (child 5-12):
o Category 1: $150.00 [$165.00] / $75.00 [$82.50]
o Category 2: $125.00 [$137.50] / $62.50 [$68.75]
o Category 3: $99.00 [$108.90] / $49.50 [$54.45]
o Category 4: $69.00 [$75.90] / $34.50 [$37.95]
2009 Dark Dates
o November 10
LOVE:
Location: Mirage, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Thursday through Monday, Dark: Tuesday/Wednesday
Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 9:30pm
2009 Ticket Prices:
o Lower Orchestra: $150.00 [$165.00]
o Upper Orchestra: $125.00 [137.50]
o Lower Balcony: $99.00 [$108.80]
o Middle Balcony: $93.50 [$102.85]
o Upper Balcony: $69.00 [$75.90]
2009 Dark Dates:
o October 6 - 8
o December 1 - 16
ZAIA:
Location: Venetian, Macao (China)
Performs: Tuesday through Sunday, Dark Monday
One to Two Shows Daily -
Tuesday: 8:00pm
Wednesday: 8:00pm
Thursday - Saturday: 7:00pm & 10:00pm
Sunday: 4:00pm & 7:00pm
2008 Ticket Prices (adult) / (child 0-12):
o Category 1: MOP$ 1288 / No Child
o Category 2: MOP$ 788 / MOP$ 688
o Category 3: MOP$ 588 / MOP$ 488
o Category 4: MOP$ 388 / MOP$ 288
2009 Dark Dates:
o Not Available
ZED:
Location: Tokyo Disneyland, Tokyo (Japan)
Performs: Varies
One to Two Shows Daily - Showtimes vary
2009 Ticket Prices (all):
o Category 1 ("Premium"): ¥18,000
o Category 2 ("Front"): ¥15,000
o Category 3 ("Regular"): ¥9,800
o Category 4 ("Overview"): ¥7,800
2009 Dark Dates:
o Not Available
BELIEVE:
Location: Luxor, Las Vegas (USA)
Performs: Friday through Tuesday, Dark Wednesday/Thursday
Two Shows Nightly - 7:00pm and 10:00pm
NOTE: Children under the age of 12 must be accompanied by
an adult. Children under the age of five are not permitted
into the theater.
2009 Ticket Prices (all):
o Category 1: $160.00 + Tax
o Category 2: $125.00 + Tax
o Category 3: $99.00 + Tax
o Category 4: $79.00 + Tax
o Category 5: $59.00 + Tax
2009 Dark Dates:
o October 12 - 19
--------------------------------------
VENUE - Arena & Seasonal Productions
--------------------------------------
Online at: < http://www.cirquefascination.com/?page_id=251 >
[Arena Shows]
Saltimbanco:
Stockholm, SE -- Sep 17, 2009 to Sep 20, 2009
Helsinki, FI -- Sep 23, 2009 to Sep 27, 2009
Turku, FI -- Sep 30, 2009 to Oct 4, 2009
Oslo, NO -- Oct 8, 2009 to Oct 11, 2009
Aalborg, DK -- Oct 14, 2009 to Oct 18, 2009
Copenhagen, DK -- Oct 21, 2009 to Nov 1, 2009
Gothenburg, SE -- Nov 4, 2009 to Nov 8, 2009
Mannheim, DE -- Nov 10, 2009 to Nov 14, 2009
Nice, FR -- Nov 19, 2009 to Nov 22, 2009
Rotterdam, NL -- TBA
Geneva, CH -- TBA
Barcelona, ES -- TBA
Salzburg, AT -- TBA
Strasbourg, FR -- TBA
Frankfurt, DE -- TBA
Nantes, FR -- TBA
Alegría:
Albany, NY -- Sep 2, 2009 to Sep 6, 2009
Syracuse, NY -- Sep 9, 2009 to Sep 13, 2009
Amherst, MA -- Sep 16, 2009 to Sep 20, 2009
Rochester, NY -- Sep 23, 2009 to Sep 27, 2009
State College, PA -- Sep 30, 2009 to Oct 4, 2009
Pittsburgh, PA -- Oct 7, 2009 to Oct 11, 2009
Philadelphia, PA -- Oct 13, 2009 to Oct 16, 2009
Reading, PA -- Oct 20, 2009 to Oct 25, 2009
London, ON -- Nov 12, 2009 to Nov 15, 2009
Greenville, SC -- Nov 18, 2009 to Nov 22, 2009
Augusta, GA -- Nov 26, 2009 to Nov 29, 2009
Hampton, VA -- Dec 2, 2009 to Dec 6, 2009
Worcester, MA -- Dec 9, 2009 to Dec 13, 2009
Montreal, QC -- Dec 18, 2009 to Dec 30, 2009
Quebec, QC -- Jan 5, 2010 to Jan 10, 2010
Detroit, MI -- Feb 4, 2010 to Feb 7, 2010
Indianapolis, IN -- Feb 11, 2010 to Feb 14, 2010
Austin, TX -- Feb 17, 2010 to Feb 21, 2010
Frisco, TX -- Feb 24, 2010 to Feb 28, 2010
Hoffman Estates, IL -- Mar 3, 2010 to Mar 7 2010
Cedar Rapids, IA -- Mar 10, 2010 to Mar 14, 2010
Champaign, IL -- Mar 17, 2010 to Mar 21, 2010
Omaha, NE -- Mar 24, 2010 to Mar 28, 2010
East Lansing, MI -- Mar 31, 2010 to Apr 4, 2010
Cleveland, OH -- Apr 7, 2010 to Apr 11, 2010
[Venue Shows]
Wintuk:
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City (USA)
Performs: Wednesday through Sunday, Dark Monday/Tuesday
Exception: December 22nd, 28th and 29th
Previews on Wednesday November 11th and 12th at 7:30pm
Regular Season begins Friday, November 13th!
Schedule: There are currently 87 scheduled performances between
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 and Sunday, January 3,
2010 on the following days:
o) Mon [2] - 12/28 (2)
o) Tue [4] - 12/22 (2), 12/29 (2)
o) Wed [12] - 11/11 (1), 11/18 (1), 11/25 (2), 12/2 (1),
12/9 (1), 12/16 (2), 12/23 (2), 12/30 (2)
o) Thu [13] - 11/12 (1), 11/19 (2), 11/26 (2), 12/3 (2),
12/10 (2), 12/17 (2), 12/24 (2),
o) Fri [11] - 11/13 (1), 11/20 (2), 11/27 (2), 12/4 (2),
12/11 (2), 12/18 (2)
o) Sat [24] - 11/14 (3), 11/21 (3), 11/28 (3), 12/5 (3),
12/12 (3), 12/19 (3), 12/26 (3), 1/2 (3)
o) Sun [21] - 11/15 (2), 11/22 (2), 11/29 (3), 12/6 (3),
12/13 (3), 12/27 (3), 1/3 (2)
Performance Times: Wintuk may perform at the following times
throughout its run. Consort the official schedule for
exact showtimes:
< http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/CirqueDuSoleil/Wintuk/
schedule/WIN09_Show_Schedule.pdf >
o) Monday: 2:30pm, 7:30pm
o) Tuesday: 2:30pm, 7:30pm
o) Wednesday: (2:30pm), 7:30pm
o) Thursday: (11:00am), (2:30pm), 7:30pm
o) Friday: (11:00am), 2:30pm, 7:30pm
o) Saturday: 11:00am, 2:30pm, 7:30pm
o) Sunday: 1:00pm, 5:00pm / 11:00am, 3:00pm, 7:00pm
Ticket Prices:
Tickets range from $30.00 to $220 based on category and
date of performance. Peek and non-peek pricing is in
effect.
Banana Shpeel:
Location: Chicago Theater, Chicago (USA)
Schedule: There are currently 59 scheduled performances between
Thursday, November 19, 2009 and Sunday, January 3, 2010,
on the following days:
o) Mon [02] - 12/28 (2)
o) Tue [05] - 12/22 (3), 12/20 (2)
o) Wed [11] - 11/25, 12/2, 12/9 (2), 12/16 (2), 12/23 (3),
12/30 (2)
o) Thu [03] - 11/19, 12/10, 12/17
o) Fri [05] - 11/20, 11/27, 12/4, 12/11, 12/18
o) Sat [19] - 11/21 (2), 11/28 (2), 12/5 (3), 12/12 (3),
12/19 (3), 12/26 (3), 1/2 (3)
o) Sun [14] - 11/22 (2), 11/29 (2), 12/6 (2), 12/13 (2),
12/20 (2), 12/27 (2), 1/3 (2)
PERFORMANCE TIMES
o) Wednesday: 2:00pm, 8:00pm (12pm, 4pm, 8pm on 12/23)
o) Thursday: 8:00pm
o) Friday: 8:00pm
o) Saturday: (12:00pm), 4:00pm, 8:00pm
o) Sunday: 1:00pm, 5:00pm
TICKET PRICES
o) Adults (1-8 tickets):
PEAK / WEEKEND:
Regular: $48.00, $65.00, $85.00, $98.00
Premium: $150.00
Tapis Rouge: $300.00
NON-PEAK / WEEKEDAY:
Regular: $35.00, $45.00, $65.00, $82.00
Premium: $115.00
Tapis Rouge: $275.00
PRE-THANKSGIVING:
Regular: $23.00, $30.00, $50.00, $75.00
Premium: None
Tapis Rouge: None
NOTE: Student, Senior and Group pricing are available.
=======================================================================
OUTREACH - UPDATES FROM CIRQUE'S SOCIAL WIDGETS
=======================================================================
o) Club Cirque -- This Month at CirqueClub
o) Networking -- Cirque on Twitter, Facebook & MySpace
o) Telemajik -- Cirque on YouTube
o) Gatherings -- CirqueCon, Celebri & More!
---------------------------------------
CLUB CIRQUE: This Month at CirqueClub
---------------------------------------
Sharing - Cirque Interpreters at Work [EXPANDED]
{Sep.10.2009}
GENEVIÈVE DORÉ, Special Correspondent -- In 1997, the only
interpreter working for Cirque du Soleil spoke mostly Russian,
among a few other languages. Today, there are 38 interpreters
working to facilitate communication inside our tower of Babel!
To better understand this profession, I have met with Lucie
Janvier, Head of the Interpreter Service at Artist Training, and
Marie-Odile Pinet, a Cirque du Soleil interpreter for 11 years.
COMPLETE CONFIDENCE
The work of interpreters generally starts with Casting. "When
non-English-speaking artists arrive at the Studio, an
interpreter who speaks their mother tongue is assigned to help
with the various steps of the newcomers' development at Cirque
du Soleil, including contract signing, taxation, medical
appointments, fittings, artistic and acrobatic classes, and so
on," Lucie explains. Interpreters quickly become guides for
foreign artists. "It's surprising how quickly they give us their
complete trust in this process, when they are in such a
vulnerable position," says Marie-Odile. "I always feel
privileged to share this bond with them." For projects in
creation, the interpreter assists artists until the premiere.
For artists joining a touring show, she stays with them until
their departure. "Premieres are my favourite because I get to
witness the consecration of the artists I have been working with
for months," adds Marie-Odile. "These athletes-turned-artists
are now spreading their wings and flying among Cirque du Soleil
stars."
SHARING CULTURE
Interpreters are conveyors of culture first and foremost, and on
different levels. Language is a given, but interpreters also
teach artists about general and artistic North American culture
and about the circus culture. "For example, a Director once
asked the artists to put themselves in the shoes of a black
person from the Bronx. A North American quickly understands this
cultural reference, but it is complete gibberish to a Chinese
person. An interpreter must therefore come up with examples that
are specific to the artist's culture to make the concept clear,"
says Marie-Odile Pinet.
"The Chinese are extremely polite people, which tends to be one
of the biggest problems I have with them," says Marie-Odile. "If
their make-up is making them itchy or their costume is
uncomfortable, they won't complain because they want to be nice.
I therefore need to get them to understand that it is important
for them to express how they feel in terms of their work." For
Marie-Odile, the ultimate goal is to make artists as independent
as possible. Once the show starts, artists no longer have access
to an interpreter. This is why it is crucial to teach them the
culture and help them learn English as soon as possible. In the
end, the faster they learn, the easier it is for them to
concentrate on their performance.
THE INTERPRETER SERVICE AT CIRQUE
o) There are 38 interpreters working for Cirque du Soleil,
helping artists blend in at our International Headquarters.
o) The most common languages are Russian, Portuguese, Spanish
and Chinese.
o) The Artist Training department gets an average of 125 artists
per week at the studio.
o) The Interpreter Service is available to all of Cirque du
Soleil, in 10 different languages, for business meetings,
customer service, contract negotiations, and so on.
Finding the artist within
{Sep.10.2009}
PHILIPPE ARCHAMBAULT, Special Correspondent -- Ten years ago,
some thirty athletes arrived at the Cirque du Soleil studios in
Montreal to begin a newexperience: general training. An
experience as new for Cirque du Soleil as it was for them. "When
I took part in 1999, it was still a work in progress," recalls
Masha Ushenka, a former gymnast turned artist who would go on to
become Casting's Research Coordinator. We didn't know what we
were going to do, and we felt they didn't know what to do with
us. There was a lot of testing and experimenting. But, despite
the 'instinctive' feel of this first general training session, I
came out of it completely changed." On July 20, 2009, a thirty-
strong group of athletes turned up at the studios. They will
leave as artists. Ten years since the program began, the system
and process of general training have been refined, but the
objectives remain the same: to turn sportsmen and sportswomen
into artists.
Did you say winter?
{Sep.11.2009}
GRINGO CARDIA, Set and Props Designer (OVO) -- I have to admit
that when I arrived in Montreal, the culture shock was nothing
compared to the "climate shock" I experienced. My first attempts
to drive in the cold weather were quite the adventure. Unaware
that there is a button for defrosting the windshield, I spent
the first few days driving what amounted to an ice cube on four
wheels. Added to this, I had Deborah Colker (Writer, Director
and Choreographer for OVO) sitting in the passenger seat
constantly telling me that neither of us could see anything
through the window. And that is what a couple of newly-arrived
Brazilians look like trying to drive in the wintertime in
Quebec.
---------------------------------------------------
NETWORKING: Cirque on Twitter, Facebook & Myspace
---------------------------------------------------
{Sep.02.2009 | ZAiA}
ZAIA celebrates its first birthday in great style!
Fotos [10]: < http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=103670
&id=34277887388&ref=mf >
Our artists went outside of theater to celebrate the big
occasion too - in the Great Hall!
Fotos [10]: < http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=103943
&id=34277887388&ref=mf >
Video [0:35]: < http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php
?v=1222072075908 >
A crew worked overnight to decorate The Promenade to celebrate
our first birthday on Aug 28th 2009. These photos were taken
right after the installation finished.
Fotos [8]: < http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=103933
&id=34277887388&ref=mf >
{Sep.04.2009 | Wintuk}
MEET THE CAST: Rene Bibaud is a professional Rope Jumper. She
traveled to many foreign countries, appeared in countless
television programs and performed at many high-profile events.
Rene recalls shaking hands with Johnny Carson on the Tonight
Show when she was in junior high. In Rope jumping
championships, Rene won five world titles.
Read More:
< http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=8480949&
id=98244255320 >
{Sep.04.2009 | Koozå}
Flip, Fly, and Drive to 'Kooza' by Hollywood Performing Arts
Examiner, Nicole Rubin | While it may still be September, there
is a performance coming in October that requires advance notice.
Santa Monica may not be Hollywood, but it is where you will find
Cirque Du Soleil pitching its big top for a brief stop with
their touring show Kooza.
Read More:
< http://www.examiner.com/x-20861-Hollywood-Performing-Arts-
Examiner~y2009m9d2-Flip-Fly-and-Drive-to-Kooza >
{Sep.05.2009 | KÀ}
Last month all six Las Vegas Cirque du Soleil shows put on a
special free performance for moms, dads and children of all ages
at The Grove in Los Angeles. You might recognize Noriko
Takahashi from her photo just to the left but here's a short
video of her in action. We may be a bit biased, but Noriko's
performance is truly one of the most breathtaking moments of
theatre you will ever experience. We love you Noriko!
Video [5:20]: < http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php
?v=1108625723068 >
{Sep.07.2009 | Dralion}
Check out some pictures from yesterday when we raised the Big
top!
Fotos: < http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=8895465
&id=39340140194 >
Fotos: < http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=8895451
&id=39340140194 >
{Sep.09.2009 | Banana Shpeel}
Luke Hawkins and Melissa Schott, two dancers from our upcoming
show, brought us into their rehearsal studio. This time, learn
all about tap dancing! | Luke Hawkins and Melissa Schott, two
dancers from our upcoming show, brought us into their rehearsal
studio. They took some time to explain the major role dancing
plays in this new production, and to show off their own
specialty: tap dancing. See our new take on this dance style in
our exclusive video.
Link: < http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/shows/banana-shpeel/
creation-journal/tap.aspx >
{Sep.09.2009 | «O»}
Nice mention of "O" in the New York Times! | Connections - Death
Valley Days Yield to Las Vegas Nights - NYTimes.com
Read More:
< http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/07/arts/07connect.html?_r=2 >
{Sep.10.2009 |KÀ}
A few weeks ago one of our artists, Noriko Takahashi, had the
chance to show some folks from the Japanese TV show "Another
Sky" around the KÀ Theatre. Thanks for visiting, hope to see you
again in Las Vegas soon!
Fotos [9]: < http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=142591
&id=31527171928&ref=mf >
{Sep.11.2009 | Cirque du Soleil}
Cirque du Soleil Visit our International Headquarters in
Montreal | Visitez notre Siège social international à Montréal!
Fotos [9]: < http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=150707
&id=144074117500&ref=mf >
{Sep.15.2009 | Banana Shpeel}
Watch these great interviews with our Banana Shpeel artists on
Broadway.com!
Link: < http://www.broadway.com/videos/article/cirque-
du-soleil-gives-peel-ing-peek-ibanana-shpeeli/on-the-
scene-cirque-du-soleil-banana-shpeel/ >
{Sep.17.2009 | Dralion}
Dralion is celebrating its Premiere tonight in Monterrey! The
Artists have been rehearsing for the last 6 days and they are
excited to be in Monterrey. | Check out the picture of Uuve and
Hampus, our 2 Swedish Artists here rehearsing this afternoon the
beautiful act named "Pas de Deux".
Foto: < http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=9064689
&id=39340140194 >
{Sep.18.2009 | Banana Shpeel}
Behind the scenes photos from our special performance at the
season finale on September 16.
Fotos: < http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=145639
&id=153330866799&ref=mf >
{Sep.18.2009 | Dralion}
Dralion had a FAB Premiere last night in Monterrey! What a great
response from the public, the Artists were touched by the warm
reaction of the public! We are happy to be in Mexico.
Fotos: < http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=9081582
&id=39340140194 >
(Artist Billy Chang, captions: Photographs by David Wyatt)
{Sep.21.2009 | Zumanity}
Zumanity - The Sensual Side of Cirque du Soleil is celebrating
its 6th year anniversary TODAY! Happy anniversary Zumans!
{Sep.22.2009 | Dralion}
Dralion wants to share with you what a wonderful time we had in
Santiago today (a very charming little Mexican town near
Monterrey). Our 4 Elements of the Shows went there this
afternoon, see a picture here and most likely in El Norte
tomorrow Wednesday.
Foto: < http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=9152631
&id=39340140194 >
{Sep.23.2009 | Zumanity}
Check out Robin Leach's latest column... and the photos of our
very own aerial artist Alan Jones Silva partying with Chuy from
Chelsea Lately!
Read More:
< http://www.vegasdeluxe.com/blogs/luxe-life/2009/sep/22/photo-
galleries-partying-ali-landry-lacey-chabert-/ >
{Sep.23.2009 | KÀ}
Tonight two of our musicians, Janine and Eric, had the honor of
spending some time with a few Las Vegas locals who won a radio
station charity auction. Hope you enjoyed the show Dean and
Christine! By the way, the next time you come to KÀ make sure
to spend some time in the lobby watching Janine and Eric
playing the world's largest harp!
Link: < http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3643105
&id=31527171928 >
{Sep.24.2009 | Koozå}
Listen to Gilles Ste-Croix's interview on KCRW 89.9 FM - Gilles
Ste-Croix is the Senior Vice President of Creation & Guide at
Cirque du Soleil.
Link: < http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/mb/
mb090922gilles_ste-croix >
{Sep.24.2009 | Saltimbanco}
Check out this fabulous photo of Saltimbanco!
Foto: < http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3632264
&id=41245692958 >
{Sep.24.2009 | «O»}
We had so much fun at the photo shoot for Self Magazine today!
Check out the pictures!
Fotos: < http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=2407292
&id=26000574416 >
{Sep.28.2009 | Cirque du Soleil}
Guy Laliberté will be climbing aboard the Soyuz TMA-16 rocket
this Wednesday September 30, 2009 to visit the International
Space Station. The purpose: to raise everyones awareness of
water-related issues by drawing inspiration from the ONE DROP
Foundations dream, "Water for all, all for water." From blast-
off to landing, you will be able to follow his journey live on
the NASA website or on the NASA television channel (U.S. only).
{Sep.30.2009 | KÀ}
¡Hola amigos! Enjoy this great review of KÀ. ¡Olé!
Link: < http://www.paginacero.com.mx/oshow.php?id=741 >
{Sep.30.2009 | Saltimbanco}
Saltimbanco is setting up inside Turkuhalliin! It should be
ready in a few hours. Take a look!
Fotos [3]: < http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=3671143
&id=41245692958 >
{Sep.30.2009 | ZED}
ZED celebrates its 1st Anniversary September 26th and 27th 2009
with performance by the clowns, jugglers, satyres, Djinn and
Shaman!
Fotos [6]: < http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=154743
&id=41326571163&ref=mf >
-------------------------------------------
TELEMAJIK: Cirque on YouTube & Flickr
-------------------------------------------
[FLICKR]
Website: < http://www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/ >
Cirque du Soleil released 20 images through its Flickr photostream in
the month of September, showcasing Wintuk, Varekai, La Nouba and
Dralion. Check them out here!
o) Wintuk:
- www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3965722899/
Dancer
- www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3965723313/
Russian Bar
o) Varekai:
- www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3966500370/
Russian Swings
- www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3965725275/
Aerial Net
- www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3965727177/
Aerial Hoop
- www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3965729265/
Slippery Surface
- www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3965730669/
Icarian Games
- www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3966508264/
Triple Trapeze
o) La Nouba:
- www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3966509558/
Highwire
- www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3965734581/
Silks
- www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3965737001/
Balancing on Chairs
- www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3965737871/
Red Acrobat
- www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3966516248/
Trampoline
- www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3966518042/
Bicycles
o) Dralion:
- www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3966518318/
Ballet on Lights
- www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3965742511/
Bamboo Poles
- www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3965742951/
Dralions
- www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3965743591/
Element - Fire
- www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3966521032/
Hoop Diving
- www.flickr.com/photos/cirquedusoleildotcom/3966521376/
Silks
[YouTube]
{Sep.09.2009 | Koozå}
Watch our Cirque du Soleil show characters taking over the
streets of New York: from the basketball cage to the skating
rink!
[1:17] /// < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZneozXJjCOI >
{Sep.10.2009 | Mystère}
See Cirque du Soleils spectacular Mystere through the eyes of
two new performers as they join the amazing show at Treasure
Island. Players Network takes you backstage where the secrets of
Mystere are revealed. (Part 2)
[14:06] /// < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKBFmlVBHIo >
{Sep.14.2009 | Banana Shpeel}
The writer and director David Shiner and director of creation
Serge Roy will be launching an entirely new genre of show for
Cirque du Soleil! | A New Twist on Vaudeville (#2): Interview
with David Shiner and Serge Roy.
[1:46] /// < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMWBAcYjYZk >
David Shiner introduces us to the world of a vaudeville
production. He explains what this art form consisted of and
delves into its origins. | A New Twist on Vaudeville (#3):
A venture into Vaudeville.
[1:28] /// < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue79Wlcg02A >
Watch a clip of Wayne Wilson and Daniel Passer, two comic
artists in our new show Banana Shpeel! | A new twist on
Vaudeville (#4): The comic Artists' Point of View.
[1:15] /// < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2r9sjXBXC0 >
This week, discover the origin of the name Banana Shpeel and the
ideas behind the shows visual. | A New Twist on Vaudeville
(#6): The Visual
[2:18] /// < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIPJKB0pKjE >
{Sep.19.2009 | Dralion}
Cirque du Soleil Dralion had a FAB Premiere this week in
Monterrey, MX! Watch a video of our dress rehearsal before the
big night.
[3:01] /// < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCqH1t_X8rY >
{Sep.23.2009 | OVO}
It's not easy doing yoga when youre a cricket... Watch our OVO
characters at a yoga class in Central Park!
[0:30] /// < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZilh1FvjCE >
-------------------------------------------
GATHERINGS: CirqueCon, Celebri & More!
-------------------------------------------
CirqueCon: < http://www.CirqueCon.com/ >
[CirqueCon]
POST EVENT UPDATE #1
Friday, October 2, 2009
---------------------------------
Greetings, Cirque Passionates!
A week ago about this time we were winding down our bus tour of
Monterrey, preparing to rest up after the Garcia Caves, Macroplaza,
Museum of Mexican History and many other stops along the way.
Bohemia Night was just around the corner and it appeared that the
party would never stop. While I've not quite recovered from the
amazing weekend, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank
everyone once again for making CirqueCon 2009 a highly successful
and amazingly fun adventure. We couldn't have done it without your
enthusiasm and participation, so we hope to see you next year in
New York City!
To help keep in touch we've launched a Facebook page for
CirqueCon, which you can find here:
< http://www.facebook.com/pages/CirqueCon/272446895013?ref=nf >
Please help us make it a wonderful fan-page - join today!
- Ricky "Richasi" Russo
o) YOUR COMMENTS & IDEAS
Many of you dropped by for our Sunday morning Kaffeeklatsch
- an impromptu get-together to give us your thoughts about
the weekend - to do just that. And we thank you!
However, for those passionates with early flights or those
who just couldn't muster enough strength to wake up to
join us (it was a late night, we feel your pain), we'd
really love to hear from you!
We want to know about the good, and the bad, so that we
can make our next gathering even better, more magical and
much more enjoyable! Please don't hesitate to share!
o) SEND US YOUR STORIES!
There are many, MANY stories to tell about our weekend here
in Monterrey , and we want to hear about them! Tell us about
your favorite part, tell us about meeting your favorite
performer, or tell us about your entire weekend! Email those
to us at mexico@cirquecon.com, we'll compile them and (with
your permission) email them out periodically in post-event
updates to all CirqueCon 2009 attendees! Email stories to:
mexico@cirquecon.com
o) ... AND YOUR PICTURES TOO!
We know you took tons, so send them to us! We'll compile as
many as we can, burn them to CD and mail the compilation to
every paid member! Email your pictures to our email address:
mexico@cirquecon.com. OR upload them to our Facebook page!
For regular mail, please stay tuned. We'll have an appropriate
mailing address shortly!
o) NEXT EVENT!?
Since our target dates for CirqueCon 2010: New York City
are approximately 7 to 8 months away, we'll be gearing up
on this one shortly and will make an announcement as soon
as we can.
Thanks again!
=======================================================================
COMPARTMENTS -- INFORMATION BEHIND THE CURTAIN
=======================================================================
o) DIDYAKNOW - Facts about Cirque
o) HISTORIA - Cirque du Soleil History
---------------------------------
DIDYAKNOW? - Facts About Cirque
---------------------------------
o) Didyaknow there are six musicians with two singers performing LIVE
at each KOOZA performance? The music of KOOZA is also inspired by
the sounds of western pop culture, from 1970s funk to full
orchestral arrangements. It also draws heavily on traditional
Indian music.
o) Didyaknow there is a school traveling with KOOZA? Learn about the
KOOZA School AND meet Natasha Patterson, KOOZA contortionist artist
and KOOZA school student! LINK: < http://cbs4denver.com/video/?id=
61715@kcnc.dayport.com >
o) Didyaknow, in 2009, the Cirque du Soleil Costume workshop will
produce more than 25,000 pieces of costumes? Each year, our Costume
workshop artisans use close to 130 kilometres of fabric from around
the world!
o) Didyaknow, since 1997, all Cirque du Soleil shows have been created
at the Studio in Montréal? The studio provides a great deal of
flexibility to the creative teams working on various projects.
o) Didyaknow, in 1997, the only interpreter working for Cirque du
Soleil spoke mostly Russian, among a few other languages? Today,
there are 38 interpreters working to facilitate communication
inside our International Headquarters! The most common languages
are Russian, Portuguese, Spanish and Chinese.
o) Didyaknow, in the show KÀ, the Counselors Son character has the
most complex make-up? It involves 33 steps and 8 different brushes,
4 sponges, and 1 powder puff!
o) Didyaknow that for a show under the big top, it usually takes 9
days to set up the infrastructure of the whole site and 2.5 days
for tear-down? With the arena tour of Alegría, setup takes only 9
hours while tear-down takes only 2 hours!
------------------------------------
HISTORIA: Cirque du Soleil History
------------------------------------
* Oct.01.1996 - Alegría opened Fukuoka, Japan
* Oct.01.2002 - La Nouba goes 2-tiered seating
* Oct.01.2003 -- Varekai Premium CD Released (CDS/Musique)
* Oct.01.2008 - ZED Gala Premiere in Tokyo
* Oct.02.1987 -- Cirque Réinventé opened San Diego
* Oct.02.1990 -- Cirque Réinventé opened Paris
* Oct.02.2003 - Alegría opened Portland
* Oct.02.2003 - Dralion opened Mexico City
* Oct.02.2007 - Dralion celebrated its 3000th performance [Osaka, Japan]
* Oct.04.2002 - Dralion opened Sacramento
* Oct.06.1994 - Alegría opened Santa Monica
* Oct.07.2003 - Region 01 DVD release: Alegría and Varekai
* Oct.07.2004 - Saltimbanco opened Rome
* Oct.07.2009 -- Alegría Arena opened Pittsburg, PA
* Oct.08.1992 -- Saltimbanco opened Santa Monica
* Oct.08.2009 -- Saltimbanco Arena opened Oslo, Norway
* Oct.09.1992 -- The Saltimbanco CD was released in US (RCA/Victor)
* Oct.09.2001 - Region 01 DVD Release: Journey of Man (also VHS)
* Oct.09.2009 -- Guy Laliberté will make an announcement from space
concerning ONE DROP.
* Oct.10.1990 -- Nouvelle Expérience opened Santa Monica
* Oct.10.2001 -- Alegría opened in Adelaide, Australia
* Oct.10.2002 - Alegría opened Mexico City
* Oct.11.1994 -- The Alegría CD released in US (RCA/Victor)
* Oct.11.2000 -- Dralion opened in McLean, Virginia
* Oct.12.1995 -- Alegría opened Washington DC
* Oct.12.2000 -- Saltimbanco 2000 opened Tokyo, Japan
* Oct.12.2007 - Quidam opened Guadalajara, Mexico
* Oct.13.2005 - Alegría opened Tokyo, Japan
* Oct.13.2009 -- ZED Album Released
* Oct.14.1993 -- Saltimbanco opened in Washington DC
* Oct.14.1998 - Saltimbanco opened Ottawa (Special Performances)
* Oct.14.2009 -- Alegría Arena opened Philadelphia, PA
* Oct.14.2009 -- Saltimbanco Arena opened Aalborg, DK
* Oct.15.2004 - Dralion opened Madrid, Spain
* Oct.15.2008 - Alegría opened Seoul, South Korea
* Oct.16.2009 -- Koozå opened Santa Monica, CA
* Oct.18.2005 -- KÀ CD released (CDS Musique)
* Oct.19.1998 -- "O" premiered at Bellagio, Las Vegas
* Oct.19.2004 -- "Tapis Rogue: Solarium" CD Released (CDS Musique)
* Oct.19.2006 - Dralion opened Frankfurt
* Oct.19.2007 - Alegría opened Brasilia, Brazil
* Oct.19.2008 - Guy Laliberte awarded honorary doctorate by
Université Laval in Quebec City, Quebec
* Oct.20.2003 - Cirque for Life film even in Portlan, Oregon
* Oct.20.2007 - Zumanity celebrated its 2000th performance
* Oct.20.2008 - All Together Now Documentary screened in theaters
* Oct.21.2008 - All Together Now Documentary released on DVD
* Oct.21.2009 -- Alegría Arena opened Reading, PA
* Oct.21.2009 -- Saltimbanco Arena opened Copenhagen, DK
* Oct.22.2003 - Canadian premiere of Varekai on CBC
* Oct.22.2003 - Quidam opened Fukuoka, Japan
* Oct.22.2006 - Quidam NAT 3 Ended.
* Oct.22.2009 -- Dralion opened Guadalajara, MX
* Oct.23.2008 - Dralion opened Canberra, Australia
* Oct.23.2009 -- Quidam opened Belo Hoizonte, Brazil
* Oct.23.2009 -- Varekai opened Moscow, Russia
* Oct.25.1988 -- Cirque Réinventé opened Montréal
* Oct.25.1991 -- Nouvelle Expérience opened Washington DC
* Oct.25.2007 - Varekai opened Antwerp, Belgium
* Oct.26.1999 -- Dralion CD released in Canada (RCA/Victor)
* Oct.26.2000 - Quidam opened Frankfurt
* Oct.26.2001 -- New Musical Director "O" (John-Paul Gasparelli)
* Oct.26.2006 - Corteo opened Washington, DC.
* Oct.27.2005 - Varekai opened Charlotte
* Oct.27.2006 - Alegría opened Madrid, Spain
* Oct.28.1997 -- Cirque Collection CD Released in Canada (RCA/Victor)
* Oct.29.1987 -- Cirque Réinventé opened Santa Monica
* Oct.29.1998 - Quidam opened Atlanta
* Oct.29.2004 - Alegría opened Tokyo, Japan
* Oct.29.2007 - Guy Laliberte announces One Drop Foundation
* Oct.30.2001 - Region 01 DVD Release: Le Magie Continue, Saltimbanco,
Cirque Réinventé, and Baroque Odyssey.
(Also released on VHS)
* Oct.30.2008 - Koozå opened Washington, DC.
* Oct.30.2008 - Quidam opened Brussels, Belgium
* Oct.31.2002 -- Saltimbanco opened Madrid
* Oct.31.2007 - Dralion opened Nagoya, Japan
* Oct.31.2008 - BELIEVE gala premiere in Las Vegas
* Oct.xx.2001 - CirqueClub premiered
=======================================================================
FASCINATION! FEATURES
=======================================================================
Within...
o) "Violaine Corradi: Working for Joy"
By: Keith Johnson - Seattle, Washington (USA)
{Issue Exclusive}
o) THE BEATLES: "From Me to You"
A Special Reprint from the Wall Street Journal
o) Interview: David Pelletier Mystère Bassist
A Special Reprint from FretSpot
-------------------------------------------------------
"Violaine Corradi: Working for Joy"
By: Keith Johnson - Seattle, Washington (USA)
{Issue Exclusive}
-------------------------------------------------------
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.
Violaine Corradi (VEE-oh-len co-RAH-dee, "In Italian they say co-
RAAAH-dee.") was born in 1959 in Trieste, Italy and moved to Montréal
at the age of four, the child of a composer/conductor father (who
passed away when she was six) and an opera singer mother. She trained
in voice, piano, clarinet and flute and was a musical prodigy at an
early age.
From 1993 to 1998 she composed music for the radio series
"Poesié/musique", which featured leading Quebec poets reading their
works. In 1996 she released her first solo album, "Passages" (Imagine
Recors IND-2226). She also composed the musical scores for the IMAX
films, "Bears" (Silver Wave SD-930, 2001) and "Great North."
Her first Cirque assignment, as we all know, resulted in "Dralion"
(Cirque du Soleil Musique CDSMC-20016, 1999). This was followed by
"Varekai" (Cirque du Soleil Musique CDSMC-20017, 2002). ZAIA (the
resident show on the Cotai Strip at the Venetian in Macao) marks her
third collaboration with Cirque.
While it was 7am Seattle time and 10am Montréal time (where Corporate
PR Manager Chantal Côte facilitated our conversation) when we spoke by
phone, it was 10pm the following day in Macao. In a French-tinged
accent she first commented on why she was in Macao, "I arrived in the
beginning of May [2008]. I was supposed to be here 3 or 4 months
[but] I fell in love with the place and I fell in love, period, so
thats why I stayed."
We started off by talking about working on ZAIA. "This is my third
adventure with Cirque; Ive been with Cirque the past 11 years. I was
invited by Gilles Ste-Croix to write the music for the show because
they knew what the director, Gilles Maheu, was looking for and it
sounded like it would go with my esthetic. And it did! It was a
great meeting, a great encounter."
ZAIA Director/Writer Gilles Maheu has called the stage, "the center of
fire, a hurricane, a storm where forces align and dangerously confront
each other." "[Working with him] was like a dream for me," she
continued, "because [he] is very profound, coherent and sensitive.
When I hopped on the project in June of 2006 (two years before the
premiere) he had the entire outline of the show [ready], with of
course some gray areas but the narrative was there. So it was
fantastic for me to work with; I work very well when the director
outlines exactly what he has in mind for each acrobatic number. The
colors and the set design were pretty well advanced when I came in and
we pretty much stuck to the narrative. Of course some elements had to
change, because the reality is when [youre] constructing and putting
everything together [sometimes you have] to make different choices."
"But the foundation of what Gilles proposed to me pretty much
remained. That was inspiring to me. And the narrative - the story of
a young girl who decides to leave Earth, to travel the cosmos and
bring back notions of beauty to Earth - is so appropriate to whats
happening right now. So I was very inspired to write the music for
this show."
How does a composer work with a director on a Cirque project? "Its a
relationship. Its very personal with each director because they each
have their own personal way of bringing a project forward. Its sort
of like asking if its the chicken or the egg. Because the director
first gives us the outline, then we bring our elements [to the table]
and the director or whoever is around them will be inspired by what
all of us in the creative team bring. And we nourish each other."
"A lot of [the music] was inspired by the theme, the narrative itself.
Of course as I see the development of the show - the costumes, the
lights, the acrobatic sequences - this nourishes a lot of my process.
And getting to know the artists - having a beer with them, all of that
- youre creating a personal relationship with all of them. For me
this is very crucial and fundamental to my work."
Whats the process of musical creation, we wondered? "Thats a great
question. The first stage I work on is the nucleus, a version of
about a minute and a half to two minutes of the essence, the
foundation of the piece. And since Im a singer and musician I can
perform and produce it so I do the entire thing."
Some examples of these "nucleus" recordings can be found in the
"Creators Notebook" for Varekai, (the first edition of the Varekai
program) which included a computer disk with two of Varekais songs,
"Gitans" and "Icarians." "On those tracks Im the one playing
everything. The band was [together and] we were rehearsing but they
took my pre-production [demo] tracks."
After she creates the nucleus, "we try it out with the acrobatics,
because they are also at the embryo of what theyre doing. And if we
along with the Director and the Director of Creation and the Acrobatic
Creators, if all of us feel it is right - the tempo, the colors, the
feeling of the music is right - then I develop the structure from
there. And then its back and forth until the last second before the
premiere."
While the acrobats are working with these early recordings, "Im
auditioning musicians, and as soon as the musicians come in we have
charts written out for them. For this project I had a wonderful
Assistant (to the Musical Composer) Thierry Angers. And this was a
great encounter for me, now that I know him I cant live without him!
I could concentrate fully on the creation, the creative part of
writing the music and arranging the parts, and he and I would take
care of passing it on to the musicians. He would take care of writing
the charts and preparing all of what was needed for what would be - I
dont like to call them sequences, [but there are] a few sequences.
Most of it is played live but with some of the pieces I wanted it to
sound a little bit more electro or trip-hop or house. And to do that
we needed some samples I created that are triggered by computer. So I
did all of that and my assistant would do all the charts. And I would
go to the rehearsals and we would integrate the music live. Normally
[the musicians] arrive several months before the premiere so we have
the opportunity to really work on the music."
Her composing process started long before premiere night in a
situation that proved to be lower-stress than normal. "For [ZAIA I
had] two years [to compose]. For Dralion everyone was [brought in
about] one year before. On Varekai I had one year also. This time I
was lucky, not only did the director have his narrative but two years
to create the score was absolutely wonderful. So when we got to the
tightest part of the funnel all the music was written, arranged and
integrated with the musicians. When we arrived here [in Macao in May
to start staging] they were playing it already (performances started
in July)."
"This show gave me the opportunity to spend a lot of time with Sound
Designer Steve Dubuc and his Assistant (as well as Sound Project
Manager and Recorder of the CD) Jason Rouhoff. Every night we would
rehearse and put the sound in the house. We have a mega sound system
in the theater with surround [sound] and all kinds of goodies that we
had such a good time with." Including 18 subwoofers and 55 surround
speakers.
"We had the opportunity to [work] every day, and that was amazing.
This [was helped by the fact that I] hopped on this adventure two
years prior to premiere. Once I got here I could work day and night
in conjunction with Steve and Jason on exactly how I wanted the music
to sound. And it took many many hours. This was a big big plus for
me on this project."
"It was a luxury that the team here was kind enough to accept that we
would do sound [mixing] at 6 oclock [in the evening]. With other
shows and often other venues that I work in we do sound at night
during what we call the graveyard. Everybody goes to bed but you have
to stay up and [work] when youve already been playing and doing stuff
for 12-15 hours. Here it was fantastic; we did it while they were
eating. So while the whole [creative] team was eating the musicians,
sound engineers and I stayed and didnt eat. And we preferred that to
creating the soundstage in the middle of the night. It was great."
How the music sounds in the theater is naturally an important
consideration to Ms. Corradi. "Its my philosophy that the sound
engineer is a member of the band. Because you might have geniuses
playing - lets say youre lucky enough as a composer to get fantastic
musicians, all at a very high level like what [we have] here - but if
at the other end its not [properly] translated by the system and
whomever is mixing the house - then it can kill it. I always think
its important to have a clear relationship and bond between the sound
engineer [and the band]. Here we have four sound engineers; [on
Dralion and Varekai] we had three." They are Hayden Clark, Roy
Cressey, Sebastian Hammond and Chris Pardy. Other parts of the team
include Head of Audio Eric Poitevein, Assistant Head of Audio David
Finch and Lead Audio Technician Frieda Lee.
"When I go to do some follow-up work on tour I find it important to
have these discussions and exchanges. I transmit the concept to the
engineer because if it doesnt get to him or her it can be another
universe, it can completely flip around. So to me its very
important."
Having the luxury of time also allowed her to take on production of
the ZAIA soundtrack CD, a responsibility she hadnt originally
considered. "It was a nice opportunity. [Cirque du Soleil Musical
Director] Alain Vinet proposed [that I produce the CD] in spring of
2008. I wasnt sure because I know that to create a Cirque show
[requires] a thousand percent of yourself, and often right
[afterwards] there is a little curve downwards where you need to
relax. At first I said no, Id think of somebody [else] to produce,
and so we went along that line for a little while. Then once I got
here I realized I was nicely enough ahead and I would have the energy
plus the inspiration to produce the album."
"It was very important to Guy [Laliberté] that the original musicians
[appear on the album]. The last time that happened was with La Nouba
10 years ago. [With] "O" and La Nouba back-to-back (Composer and CD
Co-Producer) Benoit [Jutras] and (CD Co-Producer) Rob Heaney produced
albums with the original musicians and they did a fantastic job. For
other albums it was mostly session musicians, original musicians of
the show were cameoed and sometimes it wasnt always the original
singers."
"But for ZAIA we reached amazing levels of rendering the music. Alain
Vinet was here for the gala in August last year and heard it and was
also convinced [this was] the way it should be done."
The nine ZAIA musicians play a multitude of instruments on the CD
(with a little help from members of the string section of the Hong
Kong Symphony Orchestra as well as Ms. Corradi herself).
Surprisingly, the band has none of the Canadian or French Canadian
players that usually comprise a large part of Cirque creation bands.
The musicians are:
Maria Karin Andersson - Singer - Sweden
"Chicago" Rose Marie Winnebrenner - Singer - United States
Steven Victor Bach - Keyboards, Bandleader - United States
Conrad Lewis Askland - Keyboards - United States
Oliver Alexandre Vincent Milchberg - Guitars - France
Rachael Cogan - Wind Instruments - Australia
Jay Aaron Elfenbein - Cello - United States
Darrin Eugene Johnson - Drums - United States
Eduard Harutyunyan - Percussion - Armenia
Recording the CD was, "another adventure in itself. At first we were
contemplating having the musicians record in a studio here in Macao or
in Hong Kong. And we played with that idea and realized it wouldnt
necessarily be the best for the project or for the show. And so we
hopped on the adventure of creating a studio [inside the ZAIA Theater
at the Venetian Macao]. With the fantastic technology we have now it
was possible [to create a control room] within a week. We [already]
had sound booths and microphone wiring for the musicians, and it was
just a question of [creating] a control booth to do the recording."
"[It was] recorded during the day and after shows while doing 8 to 10
shows a week. [It took] a month to record and a month to mix."
"[In the production] I went for a real interpretation. I worked one-
on-one with all the musicians to put them in a mood to get a rendering
[with] a lot of heart and emotion. Many many days and many many
hours of work were put into that album."
In our interview with Cirque du Soleil Musical Director Alain Vinet
(see Fascination! Newsletter #67 - August, 2009) he mentioned that he
works closely with soundtrack producers, often supplying comments.
What comments did he give about recording ZAIA? "[He was] very
encouraging. He is wonderful in the sense that he has a way to
inspire. I cant tell you exactly what his comments were because
there were many things that were discussed. What I can tell you is
that he has a wonderful way of [giving feedback] and a way of creating
that makes us want to surpass ourselves."
In a post-interview email, Ms. Corradi sent along the track list of
the ZAIA CD with the translation of the titles and act they are
related to:
01) Noi - (Theme of the show and Finale) - Us
02) Aestus Calor - (Ouverture) - A Flow of Fire
03) Ignis - (ZAIA's Departure) - Fire
04) Hatahkinn - (Aerial Bamboo) - (This is an invented word)
05) Aquilex - (Globes and Poles, Part1) - The One Who Finds Sources
06) Comissatio - (Globes and Poles, Part 2) - Feast
07) Blue Ales - (Lanterns) - Blue Bird-Its Flight is an Omen
08) Adrideo - (Old Clown Act with Onofrio + Tom) - Laughters
09) Ardor Oris - (Back-up number + walk arounds) - Ardour
10) Aequor Oris - (Fire Dance) - Ocean of Fire
11) Caelestis - (Aerial Frame) - Celestial
12) Undae - (Time Transition) - A Flow of Water
13) Temperatio - (Jugglers) - Balance
14) Ellâm Onru - (Hand to Hand) - All is One
15) Gaudiumni - (X-Board) - Joy
16) Utinam - (Straps duo) - May the Heavens Wish So
"I came up with the titles many months ago. In the reality of
everyday I still call them their working titles so I have to get used
to calling them the name we call them on the album. If I give the
[album] song title to the musicians or the Artistic Director they
dont know what Im talking about, so I have to use the work titles.
Every piece has at least 3 titles, and the [song is] baptized [with
last one] when we lay it on the album."
"You made me realize though that, now that the album has just been
released it's time for me to memorize which musical piece the new
titles I found are associated with...Thank you!"
"We actually recorded everything, the music of the entire show, 95
minutes. I knew that I was not going to be able to put everything on,
but the songs that we werent able to put on the album - and Ill need
to discuss this with Alain - we may be able to put them on iTunes or
something like that. But we have them. On the album we put what
Alain and I felt would tell the story of ZAIA. The rest exists and
well see what we do with it."
Those unreleased songs include:
"Travelling Cowboy" - (New Clown Introduction)
"Automat Dance" - (Automaton Dance)
"Alobaloro" - (Rola Bola)
And there was one song that, due to the continuing evolution of the
show is on the soundtrack but isnt in the show anymore. ""Adrideo"
is the clown act, or should I say, it was our clown act until
approximately a month ago. Work in progress... new clown act = new
music!"
Ms. Corradi dedicates the album to "Mariposa." ""Mariposa" means
"butterfly" in Spanish. This butterfly I know is an inspiration for
me. And the symbol of the butterfly is related to the show. The fact
that a butterfly goes through four stages in its cycle before it
becomes a butterfly is really related to transformation, to a journey
where you have to throw yourself into the void. [The concept of
letting] yourself be reborn again is really appropriate for this show.
So Mariposa is a person and also a symbol."
Unlike the soundtrack to Varekai, which was more electronica-
influenced and took some liberties with the music, ZAIA seems to be a
return to the sound of the music as heard in the show. Much of this
is due to recording the album with the shows original creation
musicians in the ZAIA Theater. But it was also a philosophical
decision. "To tell you the truth I think [soundtrack CDs] should
always reflect the show. If theres going to be other projects
inspired by the show music you should [label them] as being inspired
from the show. When its the shows soundtrack I feel that it should
reflect the music of the show but not necessarily in every detail, you
can enrich it. For example for this CD I had to restructure [the
music] to put it in a format that was independent from the image, from
the visual."
"For Varekai it was an executive decision to work with [CD Producer
Nitin Sawhney]. We had an intimate dinner at Guys house in Montréal
with Nitin and Bruno Gaez (who was the Musical Director at the time).
And Guy felt [there] was a new tone for Cirque du Soleil starting with
Varekai, because (Cirque Co-Founder and first Company President)
Daniel Gauthier had left and it was the first show that had been
created without him. It was Guys desire to explore other avenues and
he asked me if I would feel comfortable with that. And I said yeah, I
approved it. It was great, it was a fantastic encounter and I think
it spoke for itself. It [was in] the Top 5 in Billboards World Music
section for weeks.
Interesting sounds are one of the hallmarks of Ms. Corradis music.
Such as a rapid breathing singing sound used in ZAIA on "Undae."
"Its called "panting" or "throat singing." Its a specialty of one
of the musicians, Racheal Cogan, the wind instrumentalist. And I
integrated it into two of the pieces because I find this sound brings
us to the beginning; to me its really evocative of the origin of
humanity. Hopefully it creates that in the imagination of others.
And so far so good, people that have heard it here feel the same. So
well see how it echoes back as the album lives its life."
In a prior interview she mentioned how one of Guy Lalibertés favorite
instruments was the "bandaneon." Whats that? "Bandaneon is the name
for an accordion, but instead of having a keyboard it has buttons.
Guy loves accordion sounds - he used to play it - so I know that he
loves the sound. In the last 11 years he would really be turned on
when I would come up with an accordion or bandaneon sound."
"Guy loves very simple melodies and melodies that bring people
together. And he loves everything that is rhythmic or percussive or
[music that is] very trendy. But he explained to me that he loves
music and melodies that bring people together. And to him an
accordion is a great instrument to do that." (This might explain why
the bandaneon/accordion shows up in almost every Cirque recording.)
The ZAIA album continues Ms. Corradis considered use of strings and
woodwinds. "I think they are very warm. [In ZAIA] we dont have
violins per se. [We have] a bow specialist who plays viola da gamba
and the ancestor of the cello, the rabab. Sometimes it might sound
like a violin but were not using a violin. To me these sounds are
very real and warm. They have a mode of expression that is strong and
close to the human voice."
"With Dralions original instrumentation the first musician I hired
was a cellist/violinist, he would play both. And [for ZAIA] the wind
instrumentalist [was to] be mainly an oboist but they also play
didgeridoo and other wind instruments."
"I love to put the two together. I think all Cirque shows have bowed
or blown into [instruments], Im not the only one. If I look at
Cirque orchestral formations I think we find that you always have
keyboard and percussion but you need people who blow into something
and people who bow string."
"First we do it with synthesizers. [But its] so expressive when a
specialist in an instrument gives a real rendering with a real soul
interpreting and with all the mechanics and ornaments you have with a
real instrument instead of having a keyboard play it."
ZAIA Keyboardist Conrad Askland quotes Ms. Corradi as saying musicians
are the "soul of the show." He also called her a "musical shaman."
"I auditioned [and selected] every musician in the show. Im totally
part of the process. The Director of Creation for the Show Neilson
Vignola accompanied me through the process."
"For the other shows normally I am involved, but they will know if I
am too busy to hire or audition other people. Normally I am always
the one choosing the musicians because it is part of my mandate -
Composer, Arranger and Musical Director, that comes along with it."
"With singers, because they are characters in the show, once I make my
choices we [show them to] the director for him to see what they look
like, because he would have to work with them. We would have to reach
a consensus. He was very happy with the people I found."
ZAIA incorporates two women singers, was that her choice? "These
ideas always come from the director. [For the other shows] the
director saw a man and a woman but for this show Gilles wanted two
female singers. I was happy to get the request and work with it, and
I make the best of it I can."
Listening to her Cirque albums one wonders if vocalists have
difficulty with some of the more tongue-twisting aspects of Cirques
made-up language. "On the contrary, I get more positive comments that
its interesting and challenging. Because they perform 8 to 10 shows
a week and - let me put it this way - I make sure they dont fall
asleep! They have enough challenges [with] the difficulty of the
melodies and the way to interpret it, what Im looking for in dynamics
and sensitivity, rendering, interpretation. I make sure the mountain
is high enough they have a nice climb. And to be able to have [their
souls] open at every show. Maybe theyve thought it was hard but
nobodys ever told me."
Creation musicians are "crucial, absolutely crucial" to a shows final
musical sound, Ms. Corradi insists. "These musicians are choices that
I made very meticulously, of what kind of interpretation Im looking
for. In this show I was looking for multi-disciplinary musicians,
especially [with] regards to plucked strings, bowed strings, and
winds, so we get all kinds of textures. Its also like a journey in
time, in contemporary sounds as well as ancient, like the rabab and
the aoud."
"So I made sure that I found the [right] musicians. Of course this is
crucial, because [they create] the foundation of [how future]
musicians will be asked to interpret the music unless Im lucky enough
that the original members of the band stay forever. Which happened
[with] both Dralion and Varekai, most of the team is the same."
"So its absolutely crucial, they lay down the foundation of the
score. Because I may lay down a line of aoud that I will play myself
with a very good sample, but its never [the same as] when its the
instrument interpreting it itself."
For the "Solarium/Delirium" and "Delirium" arena show CDs Cirque
utilized several of Ms. Corradis compositions. In fact her songs
alone make up 40% of both projects! Songs utilized include:
From Dralion: Ombra, Aborigenes Jam and Spiritual Spiral.
From Varekai: Lubia Dobarstan, Emballa, Oscillum, Patzivota, Le Reveur
and El Pendulo.
How does it feel to hear her music in such a context? "Its exciting,
its inspiring. I like [hearing where] inspired arrangers and
producers bring [the music]. [On Solarium/Delirium] theres "Ombra"
where we have two completely different universes being expressed on
the same album; one is more Latin and the other really trip-hop. I
love it."
"If I would write a piece [for a show] and it was really new and I
offered it to the musicians and they would start playing it like [the
remixes] I wouldnt agree because I have an architecture, an esthetic
that I ask them to respect. Because the architecture and esthetic
have meaning in conjunction with all my other colleagues and creators.
We create an esthetic together and if they were to change the
[musical] style I wouldnt agree. But when it comes to doing remixes
I find it very exciting and inspiring and Im happy that people are
doing it."
"I saw [Delirium] once when it premiered in Montréal. I was open and
just received it. (Music Producer and Arranger) Francis Collard did a
great job. Sometimes it sounded like a homeopathic [dose] of what we
created. He had a big mandate to take all those [songs] and make
something for this mega production but he did his job well, I think he
did a great job."
How would she populate a Violaine Corradi "Best of"? "Thats a very
hard question. I have no idea. Its the type of question I cant
answer because I have to sit down and listen to everything and make it
work together. And Id probably ask my friend Alain Vinet what he
thinks. I dont know, I would have to do it then tell you."
Whatever songs end up on that mixtape, they would all reflect the
Violaine Corradi style which she defines as, "a juxtaposition of
different styles and different cultures. I find a lot of inspiration
in what I call "root music." I dont like saying "folkloric" music,
but original music that has been played for hundreds or thousands of
years from every country. Thats what I listen to when I write music,
and I try to bring in a contemporary approach. I also like to
juxtapose diverse styles, like classical with trip-hop, or house with
Latin and whatever. Ive always written like that, and I guess thats
why Guy invited me to be part of the team 11 years ago."
So whats currently in her MP3 player? "These days Im listening to
"Tuck & Patti" (vocalist Patti Cathcart and guitarist Tuck Andress).
It was released in the 80s and I havent listened to it in ages, I
downloaded it maybe a week ago. Its just voice and guitars and its
just great, its amazing. It felt so good to listen to that again.
They write their own songs and do some covers. Just beautiful to hear
a human voice with a very simple recording, very transparent. Tuck is
the guitar player and he plays amazingly, with so much feeling.
Thats what Im listening to [along with] so many other things. But
that one is first on my list these days."
Is there something about composing music that the public doesnt
realize that shed like them to know? "Thats such a good question!
I dont think I want them to know because [its] a lot of work. I
think the general audience [doesnt] have one hundredth of an idea of
all the work that [has been done] when they listen to an album or
listen to any kind of show. Of all the human effort and inspiration
and generosity and talent, everything that it takes to put it all
together."
"Lets just take ZAIA. We have nine musicians. All of them [have put
in] how many hours and years of work just to get there? And then to
put the soundtrack together?"
"How can I put it? I dont think an audience that arent musicians
can envision everything it takes to put all this together, so I think
Id rather they didnt know. Just enjoy it! On our side we have so
much joy doing it."
"Its work and joy at the same time. Id rather the audience just
keeps the joy of listening. The joy of listening is equivalent to the
joy we have of giving it to them. Because if we didnt have joy all
this work would mean nothing."
"In my life [Ive known] people that couldnt understand what I was
doing. They would wonder why I put so much energy on a note or a
measure or on 8 bars or 100 bars of music. These people are not in my
life anymore."
Her work ethic was imprinted on her early in life, "[by] my parents,
but especially my mother. My mother was my music master; she studied
at the Pittsburgh School of Music in Philadelphia. She was an opera
singer and music whiz and she passed it on to me. My father was also
but he passed away when I was six so my main master was my mother.
She taught me everything about music but especially how to materialize
and actualize my ideas and bring [them out]."
"I remember in Quebec when I was nine years old I started to do
television. They would come to see the kid that could compose music
at nine years old, so they would put me on TV and stuff like that.
She would have me write out charts for the musicians or to be able to
[copyright] the piece at BMI. And she told me, "What you start you
have to finish." And at nine years old to write a chart for musicians
was a big big endeavor. And I would cry, "No, why dont you do it?"
"No! You started it, you finish it!" So I think that was the
[development] of my courage and endurance and stamina."
"You need inspiration and talent but you [also] need courage to put
forward and actualize and materialize your ideas. And you have to
have the courage to keep going until it becomes complete. That is my
philosophy."
What can we expect to hear from her in the future? "For the moment
were still doing a lot of changes [to ZAIA] so Im busy doing that.
I also have some album projects [in mind]. And of course (Vice-
President of Creation) Pierre Phaneuf at Cirque told me the last time
I spoke to him that they had projects for me. So well see. I think
theyre letting me finish [ZAIA] and then well see what my new
collaboration with Cirque will be. So coming up - music music music
music!"
As our time together was running out we had one final question, one of
our favorites. What words of wisdom does she have for young artists
to encourage or make them aware of the challenge of Art as a career?
"Hmm. Thats a very good question, and a hard one because there are
so many things I want to say. Maybe Ill write it to you [later]."
Later she wrote, "To be an artist... to be a true artist means to be
totally engaged, totally dedicated to your craft; in fact, you can't
even imagine living or breathing for a millisecond without Art in your
life! If this is the way you deeply feel then there are chances you
will have enough willpower and inner strength to carry you through."
"As the famous French star Georges Brassens liked to say, "Talent
without technique is just a bad habit." Knowing this first-hand and
also knowing what my peers and I have to put in to realize our dreams
and visions, I can confirm that the artistic adventure will challenge
and test you to the bone; to the marrow of your soul; it will carve
you like the sculptor carves marble in order to reveal your true
nature; your beauty and your full rainbow potential."
"If you feel you have the talent and hear this "Call" to passionately
live the artistic odyssey (and what I just told you didn't make you
want to run in the opposite direction...), then jump right in without
any second thought. Because it means that your dedication to your art
and to the world and what will be requested of you to succeed won't be
"work" for you.... your long hours, days, months, and years will be
total "play"; full, total "joy"!"
And as she signed off Violaine Corradi had some kind words for us at
the Fascination! Newsletter. "I think its precious that you take
time to speak with me and to speak with us. Youve done some great
work and every element counts. Its very precious and I thank you."
Likewise, Ms. Corradi.
My sincere thanks go to: Ms. Violaine Corradi, for so graciously
spending time with us, Lise Dubois, Corporate Alliances Coordinator,
Chantal Côte, Corporate PR Manager, and my wife LouAnna for putting
up with my sometimes obsessive hobby.
-------------------------------------------------------
THE BEATLES: "From Me to You" [EXPANDED]
A Special Reprint from the Wall Street Journal
-------------------------------------------------------
The Beatles created nearly their entire recorded output at Abbey Road
studios, but the place is no museum. On a recent visit, a classical
session was thrumming along in the enormous Studio One, the canteen
was full of chattering engineers and assistants, and Sir George
Martin, the man who produced those Beatles records and happens to be
the most successful producer in the history of sound, was back
visiting for a few hours on his way to a garden party at Buckingham
Palace celebrating the centenary of British Naval Aviation. (Martin,
now 83 and with his regal bearing intact, served in the Fleet Air Arm
in World War II.)
It is sometimes said that Abbey Road is like a university, arguably
the most prestigious in recorded music. If thats the case, then
producer Giles Martinthe elder Martins 39-year-old sonis the
institutions star legacy admission, proof of nepotisms upside. For
about 20 years, the two have been building a unique cross-generational
alliance. They collaborated on the Grammy-winning, mashup-happy
soundtrack to Love, the hugely successful Beatles-themed Cirque du
Soleil show that has surpassed 2 million visitorsand is leaping into
year four of a decade-long run at the Mirage in Las Vegas. The action
onstageand in the airis every bit as heady as the music pouring out
of more than 6,000 speakers around the room (Come Together becomes
an Age of Aquariusinspired orgy of contortionists). It was a great
brain trust, an amazing transfer of art and technology and know-how
from one generation to another, the shows director, Dominic
Champagne, says of watching the Martins work. George encouraged Giles
to push the envelope, just like he did with the Beatles. I have three
sons, and their relationship made me dream about how a father could
collaborate with his son.
Now a veritable Beatles tidal wave is washing over the globe. On
09/09/09, the Beatles: Rock Band video game, which Giles helped create
as music supervisor, and the long-anticipated remastered Beatles
catalogthe most-awaited CD reissues in the annals of CD reissueswas
released, bringing George Martins age-defying productions into the
21st century. Tomorrow never knows, indeed.
At first I didnt think it was a good idea for Giles to become a
producer, because I thought he should do something of his own. But he
obviously showed a talent for it. And I came to rely on him. I brought
him in for Love for two main reasons: One, that hes very good in
the digital domain. Im a bloke who grew up with a pair of brass
scissors and a piece of tape. Im Charlie Chaplin and hes Mission:
Impossible. The other thing is that hes got a good pair of ears and
my ears are worn out.
We worked together in that little room down the hall, Room 52 here at
Abbey Road, for two years. Security had to be very tight, because if
anybody had gotten hold of what we were doing in advance, they would
have made a fortune from it. But it was great fun and we would send
each other up like mad. Giles often brought me down to earth. I might
say something like, Why dont we use the voice from such-and-such and
put it in such-and-such? And Giles would look at me rather
pathetically and say, Dad, youve got a cowbell on the vocal track!
Abbey Road is an institution. This was my nursery. In fact, when I
first came into these studios, we didnt use electricity to cut
records, because electricity was not stable. So on each recorded take
that I made with a classical orchestra, an engineer would wind to the
ceiling a heavy weight that would drive the lathe at a constant 78
rpms. That was 1950. But things started changing enormously,
particularly when the Beatles came along. We obviously had no
computers back then, so we would use our own inventions to make sound.
Today everythings available on tap; you just press a button.
The Beatles often thought that Abbey Road was fuddy-duddy and old-
fashioned. In truth, it was conservative, but it was solid and
dependable, like Rolls-Royce: You knew you had a good product here.
But the Beatles werent Rolls-Royce people; they were Ferraris. Even
so, the Beatles are very affectionate about this place. Theyd rather
come here than any other studio.
I do think the Beatles will still be with us in 100 years time. I
wouldnt have said that 40 years ago, but now it seems that each
generation discovers their music like a new thing. My children found
it when they were very young. My grandchildren have found it.
Many years ago, Giles came to me and said, You know, its not easy
being your son. And I said, Im sorry, but I cant do anything about
it. Only you can do something about it. You can be better than me!
Now thats what he is, the bastard: Hes better than me.
Id never heard The White Album until I was about 19. The last thing
I thought Id ever be doingand this was right up until Love came
alongwas working on any Beatles material. In fact, the last thing I
ever wanted to do was to work on any Beatles material. I did Love
because it gave me a chance to impress my dad.
Im much more slapdash than he is. He likes to write everything down
and Ill just be clicking and dragging, creating chaos in order to
find something. Its kind of a Jackson Pollock mentality, but it
worked well on Love, because hed rein me in or Id bring up an idea
that didnt make sense on paper but somehow worked. Or didnt. A good
example is Octopuss Garden, which initially Id tried with Ringos
voice and the strings from Glass Onion. It was great, but it sounded
creepy. It sounded like he was about to murder someone.
I gravitated toward the guitar and piano when I was a kid, and I
remember having a conversation with my mum and dad about music. They
were reticent because they were concerned about my life. And so I hid
it from them. I used to go busking on the Tube. There have been
articles saying my dad wasnt supportive, but he did eventually buy me
a PA so I could go out and play in pubs. A lot of people treat us as
if I were a facsimile of him, but my grounding was playing in bands
and his was as a classically trained musician. And, funnily enough, my
biggest success until Love was doing a classical recordHayley
Westenras Pureand his biggest success was doing the Beatles.
I dont think you can compare Love to the albums my dad made in
those days: Its still a mythical time. For us, the appeal of the
project was that it would make people listen again. It also meant that
I could sit down with my father and go through the entire Beatles
catalog and ask him about each song. I think we miss each other, not
doing it now, and I feel bad doing Rock Band without him. But if
youre going to do a video game, its nice to do something the whole
family can play togethernot carjacking. As with Love, the idea was
to make people feel as if theyre part of this Abbey Road world.
This is how competitive my dad is. Wed gotten into a car on the way
to the Grammys last year and he was trying to work out whether I was
younger than him when he got his first Grammy, for Sgt. Pepper, in
1967. I was. But all of that knowledge that he has, his knowledge not
only of the Beatles, but of all musicI try to suck as much out of
that as I can. Thats what parents are for. When you start borrowing
money off them, you might as well start borrowing information as well.
-------------------------------------------------------
Interview: David Pelletier Mystère Bassist
A Special Reprint from FretSpot
-------------------------------------------------------
David Pelletier is the bassist for the Circque du Soleil show
Mystere. This interview took place around August, 2009.
Interestingly, I went to Vegas in June of 2009 and my lovely wife and
I went to see Mystere. From the tone and visual style of the bass, I
knew that David was playing an F Bass. So I gave my card to the stage
manager and asked him to have David contact me. He was gracious enough
(and probably curious enough) to contact me, and agreed to this
interview.
FretSpot: Performing nightly with CDS must be an interesting
experience. How did you get that gig?
David Pelletier: Ive actually been with the company for almost 10
years. I started in 1999 with the touring show Alegria. Being from
Montreal, Canada, I had been in contact with fellow musicians who
either left or returned from gigs with Cirque for years. At the time I
didnt think it was for me until I turned 30. Then I flashed that it
could be a good career choice. I sent my resume and demo. About 9
months later I got a call from an old high school friend who was
playing drums with Alegria. Their bassist was leaving the tour and he
asked me if I was interested. The rest is history. So I did 4 years as
bassist and then 4 years as bandleader and bassist on Alegria, touring
the world, literally.
I eventually gave my resignation and left the show in March 2007. I
took a sabbatical and did nothing for about 10 months. I really needed
the break. Then I said what the hell, Ill contact Cirques casting
again and see whats up. They had an opening at Mystère. I auditioned
and got the gig. So here I am, since February 2008, just playing the
bass and enjoying the desert.
FS: The music has moments where you are playing songs, and other
moments where you are creating a mood. Who scores the music?
DP: Mystère has two composers: René Dupéré (40%) and Benoît Jutras
(60%). From what I hear, Mystères creation was a bit chaotic and
Dupéré was a bit overwhelmed so Jutras took over. He was the original
bandleader too.
FS: How identical is it performed each performance, or are there
artist liberties each time?
DP: While the pacing and general timing is the same every night, there
are slight differences in almost every number. The music is modular
and many sections can be shortened or stretched at will in order to
follow artists. The bandleader gives the cues vocally. This keeps the
show exciting and we have to be on our toes. And of course there are
things that can go wrong so the bandleader then has to improvise an
arrangement calling sections on the fly.
FS: How has the music and musicians evolved over the years?
DP: The actual music has not really evolved. Some acts were dumped and
new ones added, therefore new songs, but the arrangements are pretty
much the same with just the form changing as acts change. New
musicians have brought their own twists on different parts but thats
about it. Interesting fact, two musicians are still there from
creation, Marc Solis (woodwinds) and Bruce Rickerd (guitar). Thats 15
years and more than 7000 shows!
FS: Is any of the music pre-recorded?
DP: The music is live, with some loops going on at different times.
The show now has a backup for musicians. They use Ableton Live to
trigger a musicians parts in case they are out sick. For example,
when you saw the show, one of our singers was out so you were hearing
her recorded tracks. We play the full show with a click track which
facilitates triggering Ableton tracks. Of course Ableton is not as
flexible as a fully live band and it happens that we have to stop it
if the action on stage deviates a lot from what is considered
normal. It is almost impossible to predict every possibility.
FS: Whats the turnover like with musicians at CDS? Average tenure?
DP: It is hard to give a number on the average tenure of a musician at
Cirque. Turnover is fairly low. A job like Cirque is a rarity in the
music scene. It is steady income that can last for years. This year
Mystère has 478 shows at the calendar. Having a steady job makes it
easy and fun to participate in other musical projects where the pay
might not be interesting otherwise. Artists (this includes musicians)
are on a one year contract, renewable each year. A good evaluation
usually means a contract renewal. It is very expensive for the company
to replace artists. So for example, as mentioned before, two musicians
are on Mystère from the beginning (15 years), some for about 10 years,
and the bassist I replaced had been there for 5 years and now moved on
to Zed in Japan, another Cirque show.
FS: Any gig horror stories with CDS?
DP: Sure there are horror stories. It is a live show after all. It can
range from technical errors, lighting failures, automation (lifts) not
functioning, or even a major train wreck in the band. I have one
particular anecdote: On Alegria, there was a show where we had no
singer (they were both out sick). At the time we did not have a backup
system. Management decided to dress an artist as the lead singer and
we used a full band and vocal recording for the opening and finale
songs on which the band would literally lip sync. Well about 30
seconds before the end of the song the recording stopped. Total
silence. But the crowd usually went nuts at that point so their cheers
covered it. We finished 30 seconds early that night.
FS: Have language or cultural differences made problems or humorous
stories?
DP: I dont recall any humorous stories regarding cultural
differences, but they are omnipresent. On every show there is a large
number of eastern Europeans, and then usually some Europeans,
Scandinavians, Australians, Mongolians, Brazilians, etc. The common
working language is English of course. I wouldnt say there are
problems per se, but people tend to group according to their origin or
language.
FS: If someone wanted to get involved with playing for one of the big
Vegas shows, what would be the prerequisite knowledge before
auditioning? How should they go about finding out about openings, etc?
DP: Cirque has improved dramatically their casting/auditioning
procedure. Theres a link for casting on www.cirquedusoleil.com where
you get all the info about openings and all. The big Vegas shows as
you say are not the only shows Cirque is producing. There are many
touring shows as well. If one desires to join Cirque, I wouldnt limit
myself to the Vegas shows. These shows are for sure the ones with the
less amount of turnovers. Positions are very limited. Touring is great
as well. There are less shows per year, but then you have no or very
little expenses, it about evens out. As for prerequisite, Cirque is
looking for musicians with musical education, reading and improvising
skills and a capacity to adapt on the fly to changing cues and
arrangements. Casting has kits for every position, and it is required
to produce a video of yourself playing live along with the audition
kit.
FS: Why did you first start playing bass? What inspired you to learn
this instrument?
DP: Hmm
good question. We had an old beat up classical guitar at home
when I was a child. Nobody played it, so I still wonder what it was
doing there. Anyways, as my interest for music grew, I picked it up
and the first parts that naturally came to me were the bass parts as I
was trying to learn songs. So I was playing bass on the guitar. I also
wanted to play drums but we were living in an apartment and drums were
out of the question. I was into classic and progressive rock at the
time. Some early influences range from Deep Purple, Rush, Yes, Led
Zeppelin, etc.
FS: What was your first bass, and what were the circumstances in
getting it (birthday, christmas, etc)?
DP: My first bass and amp was a kit made by Sears. Ultra cheap but
very helpful. I just asked my mom if I could get that kit from a
friends brother who was selling it, for $100 if I remember correctly.
She knew I was serious about music so she agreed. She was always
supportive of me and my music. My second bass was an Aria Pro II,
through neck. I played that bass for several years.
FS: What were your first musical experiences? First band?
DP: My first band was in high school back in Montréal in the early
80s. I was enrolled in the music classes and formed a band with a
guitar player and a drummer. The musicianship was surprisingly good.
These two guys are still playing. We also had a singer. We were
playing Led Zep, Ozzy, Black Sabbath and Hendrix among others.
FS: What was your first professional gig that made you feel like you
had made it?
DP: That gig would be working for a legendary singer in Québec named
Robert Charlebois. I was hired on his 1996 album called Le Chanteur
Masqué to write all the horn arrangements and I also performed bass
on 2 songs. I was good friends with the producer, having recorded at
his studio with my metal band at the time. It was a great experience.
FS: What is your musical training? Did you study music at a
University, or is your education all wood-shedding and on the job
training?
DP: I did 3 years at the St-Laurent college in Montréal and then went
on to study jazz composition at Berklee College of Music for 3
semesters in 1991-1992. My passion at the time was big band arranging.
I devoted a lot of hours to that as opposed to bass training. Before
college, I didnt read music. I got in I guess because of my skills on
the bass but had to take a special class before school started to
catch up on music theory and ear training. So in a way I consider
myself self-trained to a point.
FS: Can you read musical notation? Is it used in the show? If not,
what format do they use?
DP: Of course now I can read and write music very well. As far as the
show is concerned, it is not really used per se, but it really helps
when youre integrating a show. Once you know the songs, you dont
need charts anymore. So I would not say it is mandatory at Cirque, but
strongly appreciated lets say. For example, the previous accordion
player in Alegria did not read music. When she went to another show,
Cortéo, I heard that the bandleader was freaking out because she did
not read. She eventually caught up with the songs, but reading
strongly accelerates the integration process. I believe that reading
skills are part of the requirements on the new Cirque casting site.
But I suppose that if youre really good at your instrument and have
special skills or sound, especially for ethnic type instruments, they
would still consider you.
FS: Being a bass player in Las Vegas, did you know Adrian Garcia?
DP: No I did not know Adrian Garcia. I googled him though. Sorry to
see he has passed away. Thanks for introducing me to him. I will check
out his legacy.
FS: What basses do you own? Which basses get the most use in your
current gig?
DP: I own 5 basses at the moment. Two Warmoth Jazzbass 4 stings (one
fretted and one fretless) a Carvin Bunny Brunel model 4 strings, a
Lakland 55-94 5 strings and a F Bass BNF5 fretless. In the show I
use the Lakland and the F equally, about 50/50.
FS: What other equipment do you own that you use regularly (amps,
preamps, effects, strings, etc)?
DP: I use two preamps on stage since I have two separate lines for my
fretted and fretless basses. I switch between the two with an A/B
switch. For the Lakland I use a Demeter HBP-1 H Series Tube Bass
Preamplifier. This thing is amazing and will bring to life any piece
of wood with strings on it. For the F, I have a Eden Traveler head,
using only the preamp section. Its warm and punchy, dirty. I love it.
Theres one thing thats really hard to adjust to on Mystère. Its the
fact that they dont allow any speakers on stage. Therefore I do not
have any cabinets on stage. I use Sensaphonics in-ear monitors and a
butt shaker bolted to the floor under me. Thank god for that shaker!
So its really hard to come up with a bass sound that way I find. For
example, with the F bass, the only way I could get satisfied was to
push all the way up the high and mid pots, along with the treble pot.
The bass pot is half way up. I compensate with some EQ on the
Traveler. I think it sounds pretty damn good this way though.
I only use an effect one time in the show, a delay/flanger type thing
coming from an old Alesis Quadraverb that belongs to the company. Its
for a specific song which has the same kind of fx as in One of These
Days by Pink Floyd. I would like to explore effects more though. In
some songs I have to play with a pick these loud, long notes and a
slight distortion/room reverb might be interesting. Im thinking John
Wetton on UK Live. Sounds like hes playing very loud in a cavern.
As for strings, on the fretted I use Elixir extra long scale, .045-
.105 with a .130 low B. On the F I use their own strings with their
weird custom gauge. I believe its .043-.128. Ive tried others by I
always come back to them. I change them about once a month on both
basses.
FS: Any opinions on equipment in general? Brand preferences, opinions
on the use of effects, etc?
DP: Im not an equipment maniac. I actually care very little about it.
Its all about feel and sound, no matter what you use really. Ive
seen bassists with top gear and shitty sound. Whats important is
having your ideal sound embedded in your head and try to reproduce it.
If you have no vision, the gear is not gonna fix it for you.
FS: How did you become aware of F Bass? And why did you start using
the BNF5?
DP: F Bass is a Canadian company and we became aware of it very early
on. It was used by a Quebec fusion band called UZEB with bassist Alain
Caron and guitarist Michel Cusson (F made guitars as well at the
time). These guys were huge in Quebec and getting there
internationally.
When I got the gig with Mystère, it became clear to me that I had to
get 5 strings basses. On Alegria, I was fine with my Warmoths and
Hipshot D-Tuners. So I wanted to have them before leaving Montréal to
go to Las Vegas, just so I could practice with them and arrive ready.
I had the hardest time shopping for 5 strings basses in Montréal,
believe or not. I chose the Lakland for a fretted bass. But then can
you believe that the BNF5 was the only 5 string fretless in Montréal!
That was in January 2008. At first I didnt think it was for me. I
thought it was overpriced, above my budget. But then it became clear
to me that I wouldnt find another 5 string fretless in time. I
decided to buy it. I got a fairly good deal because the headstock was
chipped a bit. Well Im glad I did because I love it now. I especially
love the neck. Its thin with a flat radius. I might consider getting
one as a fretted. Well see.
I also love the 34.5 scale. The strings are well balanced and the B
string has tremendous sustain and growl on the low notes. In the show
there are long sustains on low D, Eb and C and the bass just rocks. I
am also amazed at how stable the neck is. Its rock solid. I also like
the pickups and preamp of course. I get a really unique sound out of
them. The overall craftsmanship of the bass is just gorgeous. Its a
piece of art. The weight is well distributed and the bass is
surprisingly light compared to other basses Ive owned. Its a very
comfortable instrument.
FS: What kind of things are you working on in your current personal
practice regimen?
DP: Well, sorry to disappoint you but I do not actually have a
practice regimen. We do 10 shows a week, 478 shows a year so I spend a
lot of time playing the bass. That would be different of course if I
didnt have this job. Cirque is a unique job for musicians. I havent
heard of any company offering that many shows. Its almost surreal. On
my spare time, I rather focus on writing or producing demos for
friends. I use Logic Studio on the Mac OS X platform. Im quite fluent
with this setup. Ive been using Logic since version 5 on Mac OS 9. I
like to incorporate real bass on various projects, so thats as far as
my practice regiment goes. I also play a bit of guitar and own a
Fender strat Highway One. I play a bit of keyboards as well.
FS: Any other topics that youd like to address, or that you think
bass players would find interesting?
DP: I think any bassist (or musician in general) should focus on
versatility. My background is very diverse. I come from rock
(progressive, hard, metal) but I also loved jazz in all its forms, and
even country. In the mid 90s I was leading a progressive metal band
which Im still really proud of to this day. At the same time I was
playing regularly in a jazz big band. This versatility came in handy
with Cirque, where musical styles vary a lot. I feel right at home
with Mystère. I find the overall score to be quite progressive.
=======================================================================
NEXT ISSUE
=======================================================================
Join us for the beginning of a series that examines CirqueCon 2009:
Monterrey! from beginning to end. Also, Keith Johnson gives us his
take on Cirque du Soleils newest musical release: ZED.
=======================================================================
PARTING QUOTE
=======================================================================
"I once fell from the top of a big top. I slid down the
canvas to the parking lot and smashed both feet. They told
me I would never walk again."
- Dominique Champagne (2003)
=======================================================================
SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION
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=======================================================================
COPYRIGHT AND DISCLAIMER
=======================================================================
Fascination! Newsletter
Volume 9, Number 7 (Issue #69) - October 2009
"Fascination! Newsletter" is a concept by Ricky Russo. Copyright (c)
2001-2009 Ricky Russo, published by Vortex/RGR Productions, a
subsidiary of Communicore Enterprises. No portion of this newsletter
can be reproduced, published in any form or forum, quoted or
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infringement intended.
{ Oct.06.2009 }
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