Audiences charmed by orchestrated thrills

THE recent Cirque de la Symphonie performance at Dewan Filharmonik Petronas (DFP) combined the elegance of classical music with the excitement of the circus.
Led by Filipino conductor Gerard Salonga, the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (MPO) performed 17 musical pieces, beginning with a 10-minute performance of Antonín Dvorak’s Carnival Overture, and included Aram Khachaturian’s ballet score from Gayaneh, Georges Bizet’s Carmen Suite, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, themes from Mission Impossible and Superman, and songs with South American flavours.
Salonga set the tone for the evening performance by reminding the audience that this was no ordinary show, and that the usual decorum of the concert hall did not apply.
True to his words, complementing the music were cirque performances by an extraordinary troupe comprising former Olympic athlete Christine Van Loo on aerial silks, famed contortionist Elena Tsarkova, and the hilariously talented mime and juggler Vladimir Tsarkov.
Combining these two disciplines is not that far-fetched if you think of ballet as a form of acrobatics.
Also part of the act that night were elite gymnast Vitalii Buza who showed off feats of balance and strength, thrilling acro duo Vitaliy Prikhodko and Pavel Korshunov, and acrobat extraordinaire Alexandra ‘Sasha’ Pivaral.
Cirque de la Symphonie, to me, was a masterfully-choreographed performance.
The music and acts not only complemented each other wonderfully, but were also timed to perfection.
Each act was choreographed to move in tandem with each musical movement – to the point where they blended together seamlessly.
I gave extra points to Tsarkov, who impeccably kept the overall mood light-hearted with his unpredictable juggling skills, and to Pivaral, whose prowess in contortion, balancing, and hula hoops was enthralling.
Some performances, especially the segment that depended on overhanging silks, are at the mercy of momentum and are understandably harder to keep time.
However, credit must be given to all the performers for being able to execute wonders in such a relatively small space, which they had to share with the orchestra.