RPO - Cirque de la Symphonie

As part of the ‘pops series’ of the RPO, this past weekend’s performances featured “the gravity-defying artists of Cirque de la Symphonie,… (with) amazing aerialists, acrobats, contortionists, jugglers, strongmen, and more!”  While the RPO, like many orchestras around the country, is struggling with anemic attendance and an aging audience base, it is also open to innovation, especially on the pops programs.  This concert made me wonder whether the Cirque de la Symphonie was accompanying the RPO or the other way around, and whether it even mattered, as long as the house was full.  If adding visual effects (whether acrobats, dancers, or movies) sells more tickets, and gets more people exposed to live classical music (even if their focus isn’t on the music and the musicians), isn’t that a good thing? 

We attended the sold-out performance with our friends Lisa & Paul, who are pops subscribers (whereas Charlie and I pick and choose from both the pops and classical series).  I had always thought of pops concerts as ‘classical lite’:  melodic, less complex music (much of it from musical theatre or film scores) by 20^th century composers (John Williams immediately comes to mind).  This performance had a mix of pieces, though, including some by composers who more regularly appear on a traditional classical orchestra program.  Yes, there were two pieces by Williams; the first was a rarely performed piece from The Witches of Eastwick that had hints of Harry Potter themes to come.  And there was the gorgeous and lush overture to Candide, by Leonard Bernstein.  But there were also pieces by Brahms, de Falla, Rimsky-Korsakov, Smetana, Strauss and Tchaikovsky!  I suspect that the audience didn’t even notice, and in fact enjoyed the music (and it was a treat to watch Juliana Athayde, violinist and concertmaster, bouncing in her chair to punctuate her passages in the Smetana piece).

I thought I recognized at least one of the cirque performers from the Cirque du Fringe in September, and they were more incredible to watch on this large stage (and less bawdy – different crowd…).  The musicians also enjoyed watching them when they could take their eyes off of their scores, and they didn’t seem distracted at all by the frequent applause for the cirque acts, at points that bore no relation to the music.  As always, Jeff Tyzik, the conductor, addressed the audience periodically, and reminded us how lucky we are to have such a professional orchestra in our community.

Classical music is no different than business, technology, or animal species, which, when faced with changes in their environment, must adapt or die.  We have a tendency to think that the way things are now is the way they always were and always will be.  But today’s classical concert etiquette, for example - audience silence and refraining from applause until directed by the conductor - was not always the norm.  In the eighteenth century it wouldn’t have been uncommon for concertgoers to talk during performances, or applaud immediately at particularly pleasing passages.  Today’s orchestras must continue to evolve, to appeal to a generation for whom single-tasking (just sitting and listening to music?) is anathema.  Change is hard, so kudos to Jeff Tyzik and the RPO for realizing and reacting to this need.