Cirque de la Symphonie, Chattanooga Symp join forces for Halloween-themed productio

Alexander Streltsov and Christine Van Loo perform an aerial stunt.

If you go

What: Cirque de la Symphonie with the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera. When: 7: 30 p. m. Friday, Oct. 28. Where: Memorial Auditorium, 399 McCallie Ave. Admission: $28-$85. Phone: 423-757-5580, 423-267- 8583. Websites: www.tivolichattanooga.com, www.chattanoogasymphony. org.

Note: Tickets also available at the CSO office, 701 Broad St.

Chattanooga Symphony & Opera Music Director Kayoko Dan falls just short of calling the Friday, Oct. 28, performance with the acrobatic performers from Cirque de la Symphonie a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but she does go so far as to call it a rare chance to see something so exciting and beautiful.

It’s so good, in fact, she wishes she could see it herself.

“It is a fantastic experience for the family,” she says. “I almost wish I could be in the audience so I could watch.”

While Dan conducts the music, the orchestra and the audience will have a close-up view of the jugglers, acrobats, contortionists and other circus performers behind her and flying over her head.

The show will feature a lineup of familiar classical musical pieces — Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera,” Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Danse des Bouffons (Dance of the Clowns)” from “The Snow Maiden,” Georges Bizet’s “Carmen,” Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake,” Paul Dukas’ “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” and Modest Mussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain,” among others.

“I don’t want to say it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Dan says, “but it doesn’t happen very often.”

The show has garnered praise from fans and media around the country.

The Seattle Times praised Cirque de la Symphonie’s “every breathtaking feat of strength and Christine Van Loo performs an aerial stunt during Cirque de la Symphonie.

Halloween reigns

Halloween themes abound in this final weekend before the holiday, which falls on Monday. For more, see Halloween roundups in Music (Page H3), Arts (Page H15) and Out & About (Page H23). agility” and explained: “A symphony orchestra has a lot in common with circus acts. Both involve developing and maintaining suspense. Both involve spectacle and modulating emotional pitch, capturing the rapt attention of an audience willing to surrender to every nuance or peak … The clearest sign that ‘Cirque’ was working was in the way kids in the audience were just as absorbed by the stand-alone musical portions of the program as they were by the