This holiday season, the BPO presents a captivating performance unlike any other, featuring the awe-inspiring Troupe Vertigo. Led by Assistant Conductor Fernanda Lastra, this special concert combines the thrill of cirque acrobatics with the beauty of live orchestral music, creating a spellbinding holiday spectacle. As Troupe Vertigo’s aerialists and acrobats perform their gravity-defying feats, the BPO will enchant with a selection of timeless holiday favorites, weaving together a performance that captures the magic and wonder of the season. Perfect for families and audiences of all ages, the Troupe Vertigo Holiday Show promises an evening of mesmerizing artistry, both in the air and through the music, celebrating the joy and wonder of the holiday season in spectacular fashion.

Program

Fernanda Lastra, conductor
Troupe Vertigo

INTERMISSION

About Troupe Vertigo

Fusing together elements of cirque acrobatics, classical dance, and contemporary theater, Troupe Vertigo brings audiences on a spellbinding journey through the world of artistic movement. Consisting of world-class aerial artists, contortionists, and ballet dancers, the Los Angeles-based company was founded in 2009 by Artistic Director Aloysia Gavre, formerly of the internationally renowned Cirque du Soleil, and Executive Director Rex Camphuis, whose background is with the fabled Pickle Family Circus. Troupe Vertigo, whose “dizzying acts defy gravity and leave its lucky audiences in awe” (Los Angeles Times) has performed with major orchestras across North America.

Troupe Vertigo’s recent seasons have brought them to the symphonies of Detroit, Dallas, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Oregon, Indianapolis, Tucson, Utah, Seattle, Phoenix, Fort Worth, Vancouver, and to the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Canada. The company is known for their collaborative custom thematic programs with symphony orchestras from Cirque España, Cirque Noir, Cirque Goes to Broadway, Cirque Goes to Hollywood, Cirque dances featuring The Firebird, and Cirque-ballet presentations of The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Cinderella. Notable conductors Troupe Vertigo has performed with include Jack Everly, Jeff Tyzik, Enrico Lopez-Yañez, Stuart Chafetz, Michelle Merrill, Sarah Hicks, Daniel Meyer, Nicholas Hersh, and Norman Huynh.

Their unique perspective on the circus arts have led to a variety of speaking engagements, including with the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, Directors Lab West, TEDx Talk, and the Chicago Contemporary Circus Festival. They have been featured for the cover story of Dance Teacher magazine (August 2016) and in the book, Ordinary Acrobat.

The ensemble premiered its first offering, Big Top for a New Generation, in 2010 at the Ford Amphitheater and has gone on to present Nighthawks: A Film Noir Circus, inspired by American jazz, Edward Hopper paintings, and crime novels. In 2016, they brought Tableaux, featuring five women grappling with the constrictions of society, to life at the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles. Husband and wife team Aloysia and Rex frequently bring their gifts and knowledge to the film and television industry, most notably with Rebel Wilson’s aerial performance in Pitch Perfect 2, and with Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz in the film, Water for Elephants.

Troupe Vertigo’s facility is home to Cirque School Los Angeles, which inspires an appreciation for the circus arts for “Anybody with Any Body.” Cirque School uses training, performance, and community outreach to foster passion for the circus arts in a supportive, non-competitive environment. Encompassing over 50 weekly classes to the public, student performances, team building workshops, pre-professional intensives and television and film projects, Cirque School thrives as the premiere cirque training program in Los Angeles.

BPO Holiday Concerts presented by: