Pictured: Maestro Joseph Caulkins will conduct the Cirque Orchestra and Key Chorale Photo by Cliff Roles.

“Around 2011, Pedro Reis, the co-founder of Circus Arts Conservatory and myself had a mutual friend, Richard Storm, that thought we should meet.” says Joseph Caulkins, the Artistic Director of Key Chorale. “Richard was at the time the Executive Director of Key Chorale and had a great love for the circus. He told me that it’d be really cool if we could do something with the circus and I thought to myself that’s the stupidest idea of all time, we're a symphonic chorus that doesn’t make any sense.’”

What Caulkins didn’t realize was that his meeting with Reis would spark one the most fruitful partnerships either company has been a part of – Cirque des Voix: Circus of the Voices, a unique production pairing the musicality of Key Chorale with the high-flying acts of the Circus Arts Conservatory. “Richard had a knack for knowing if you put the right creative people in the room together they’ll make something special. So after dragging my feet I finally met Pedro and probably in about an hour we’d come up with this idea of Cirque des Voix,” says Caulkins with a laugh.

This March will mark the 13th production of Cirque des Voix and will feature acts such as Samantha Pitard, hair hang, paired with “Alice’s Theme” from “Alice in Wonderland” by Danny Elfman and Aleksandr Deev, Cyr wheel, accompanied by “Justice League” by Jeff Marsh and “Code Name Vivaldi” by James Powell. “Every year’s a little different, we always have the incredible combination of 100 voices of Key Chorale and a 40-piece orchestra and we accompany some of the greatest circus acts around the country. So we combine all of those together with the musical and circus arts and it creates a really high energy and dynamic environment,” says Caulkins. “I think the circus artists rarely have the opportunity to perform to live music so it really brings out a certain amount of energy, drama and power to the show which is really palpable.”

CAC’s Sailor Circus Arena, 2075 Bahia Vista St., Sarasota – NEW LOCATION, Friday, March 10 at 8 p.m., and Saturday, March 11 and Sunday, March 12 at 1 p.m. CAC: 941-355-9805

Pictured: Maestro Joseph Caulkins will conduct the Cirque Orchestra and Key Chorale Photo by Cliff Roles.

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