The Sacramento Philharmonic continued its season last weekend with another Pops concert. This one again drew what appeared to be a nearly capacity audience to the Community Center Theater in what was another indication that the orchestra is building a sizeable audience after its dark season last year.
(One curious note is the insistence to refer to the orchestra as the Sacramento Philharmonic Opera, as conductor Michelle Merrill did several times during the concert. We understand that the two organizations are now one, but to date, no operas have been performed, and in our mind, the orchestra stands just fine on its own.)
The Cirque de la Symphonie concert was a mix of pure orchestral music and orchestral music accompanying athletic performances of the type now commonly associated with the Cirque du Soleil productions that have been widely popular in Las Vegas and throughout the world. The Cirque in this instance consisted of a five-member troupe of performers that featured aerial acrobatics, juggling, contortion dance, and magic.
The pure orchestral music included some automatic crowd pleasers, and under conductor Merrill’s deft direction, the 70 musicians delivered the goods. Antonin Dvořák’s “Carnival Overture” opened the concert in grand style. It’s a lively, energizing piece that wasn’t really an overture to anything, but Dvořák so named it, and it has long filled the bill in many a symphonic concert.
The first aerial acrobatic performance followed (to the accompaniment of Brahms’ “Poco Allegretto” movement from his Third Symphony). The aerialist, Christine Van Loo, did her work on blue velvet ropes that descended from the ceiling of the hall. She climbed to the top and then swung and hung on the ropes while doing the things most acrobats only attempt at floor level. It was pretty impressive, to say the least.
The first magic bit featured juggler Vladimir Tsarkov, dressed as a clown, and Elena Tsarkova, dressed in a formal evening gown. Or at least she was for the first few minutes. Then, when Tsarkov pulled a curtain over her, she emerged seconds later in a completely different dress. That sudden change of attire was repeated a half dozen times to the delight of the audience.
Other acts in the first half of the concert included a giant spinning cube performance by Alexander Streltsov and some fancy juggling by Mr. Tsarkov (both to selections from Bizet’s “Carmen”), a contortion dance by Ms. Tsarkova (to Debussy’s “Clair de Lune”), and an aerial Superman flight by Vitalii Buza (to John Williams’s theme from the motion picture). The orchestra also offered Emmanuel Chabrier’s “Espana” at one point (presumably to give the performers a chance to catch their breaths).
Mr. Tsarkov opened the second half of the concert with magic (to Tchaikovsky’s “Danse des Cygnes” from his “Swan Lake”). Ms. Tsarkova again played his foil, but for this act, he called on the orchestra’s principal bass player, Tom Derthick, who helped Tsarkov tie Ms. Tsarkova in seemingly unbreakable knots of strong rope after which Tsarkov tied Derthick to Ms. Tsarkova. He then put that curtain over both of them and moments later dropped the curtain to reveal both still tied, but with Ms. Tsarkova wearing Mr. Derthick suit jacket. It was pretty much unbelievable.
After the orchestra played Glinka’s “Ruslan and Lyudmila” Overture (another crowd pleaser), Mr. Tsarkov returned with more juggling (to Khachaturian’s “Sabre Danse”), this time including a few audience members in the front row, several of whom could not manage to catch the juggling cones he tossed to them (or throw them back accurately) to the feigned chagrin of the performer. The audience ate it up.
Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Danse des Bouffons” was the accompaniment for Mr. Buza’s performance with a giant cyr wheel, into which he spread his body while the wheel spun on the stage floor. Ms. Tsarkova then offered a visually appealing ribbon dance (to Offenbach’s Gay Parisienne from his “Can Can”).
Following the orchestra’s offering of Smetana’s “Dance of the Comedians,” the concert concluded with Mr. Streltsov and Ms. Van Loo performing dual aerial acrobatics, again on the cloth ropes that descended from the ceiling. They drew several gasps from the audience as they seemed to defy gravity in their acrobatic movements.
In all, it was another successful night for the Philharmonic. The five athletic performers were the stars, but the orchestra’s contribution was significant, and Ms. Merrill served as both a good MC and a solid conductor of this resurgent orchestra.