“Circus arts meet fine arts in New Orleans this month and the players include the world-touring Diavolo dance troupe, the half-dozen acrobats of the Cirque de la Symphonie ensemble, and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, which is collaborating with both groups in separate programs” on January 18 and 19, writes Chris Waddington in Tuesday’s (1/14) Times-Picayune (New Orleans). “Days later, on Jan. 25, the LPO will participate in the New Orleans premiere of a Philip Glass symphony while Diavolo dancers vault amid giant architectural props. (That dance, Fluid Infinities, was commissioned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2013….) Such collaborations are the wave of the future for many arts groups in New Orleans, said LPO executive director James Boyd.… ‘New Orleans has a flare for the theatrical—and younger audiences don’t see the boundaries that used to separate genres,’ Boyd said. … ‘At the orchestra, we’re deliberately incorporating spoken-word and other elements into our programs and we don’t think it compromises any of the things that drew our core audience of symphony fans in the first place,’ Boyd said.” The Winter 2014 issue of Symphony includes a feature article about collaborations between dance companies and orchestras.
Posted January 21, 2014
