Acrobats join with musicians in ‘Crescendo’

Thanks to the San Antonio Symphony, the circus came to town Friday night — at least the closest to a circus anyone sees these days.

The traditional tent/ arena circuses that featured trained elephants, lions, tigers and bears have largely disappeared, partly because of the animal rights movement. But orchestras across the country are keeping circus performers employed to showcase the flexibility and capabilities of the human race, accompanied by light classical music, in shows that remain as popular as ever.

The San Antonio Symphony Pops concert Friday night presented Cirque Musica in a show titled “Crescendo,” one of several produced for the performers by TCG Entertainment, based in the Dallas suburb of Allen. This was a change. In 2011, 2015 and 2017, Pops programs had featured Cirque de la Symphonie, based in Georgia.

Aerialists, contortionists and jugglers dominated Friday’s show. The eight Cirque Musica performers appeared multiple times, an international cast that resides mainly in the two U.S. circus capitals, Sarasota, Fla., and Las Vegas. Many of them belong to generations of circus performers.

Veronica Gan was the first to take the stage, performing much of the first movement of Peter Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto, first from the stage before elevating on a cord while Nicole Landkas and Christian Bilea performed a balancing act beneath.

Leysan Gayazova and Krista Henderson displayed strength in their contortion act while the orchestra played Richard Wagner’s “Entry of the Gods into Vahalla” from “Das Rheingold.” Marie Wolfova juggled multiple cylinders from a string during Tchaikovsky’s “1812 Overture.” Gayazova reentered to spin aerially like a top to Gustav Holst’s “Mars, the Bringer of War” from “The Planets.”

Nata Ibragimov performed wonders in a hulahoop act set to Bedrich Smetana’s “Dance of the Comedians” from “The Bartered Bride.”

Second-half highlights included Landkas’ scary drops while clinging to a slender silk curtain and Bilea’s ascent of stacked chairs. Dima Shine performed graceful handstands on a pole to Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.

The applause at the Tobin Center for the Performing Arts from the audience of about 1,100 was frequent, often nearly continuous, as the acts became more intricate and impressive, reaching a climax as the orchestra music crested.

The Symphony performed 16 pieces under Associate Conductor

Noam Aviel, three of them without accompanying a circus act. The solo pieces were the concert-opening “Duel of the Fates” from John Williams’ “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace,” Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumblebee” and traditional Italian dance music.

The circus performers took their final bows to Jacques Offenbach’s “CanCan” theme to bring the evening’s blend of music and motion to an end.

Saturday’s concert was the orchestra’s 2018-19 season finale.

Courtesy The San Antonio Symphony performed 16 pieces under Associate Conductor Noam Aviel.