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ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT MARCH 21, 2024
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Cirque des Voix, the collaboration between the Circus Arts Conservatory and Key Chorale, comes to the Sailor Circus Arena March 22-23.
ELEVATING THE CIRCUS Cirque des Voix brings together thrilling physical feats, live music and a choir. MONICA ROMAN GAGNIER ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR
I
t could only happen in Sarasota. That’s what Key Cho-
rale Artistic Director Joseph Caulkins has to say about the Cirque des Voix (Circus of Voices), his organization’s annual collaboration with the Circus Arts Conservatory. Where else in the world can you find circus artists, a 40-piece orchestra and a chorus of more than 100 voices under the same tent? That’s what will happen at this year’s Cirque des Voix, which takes place from March 22-23 at the Sailor Circus Arena.
IF YOU GO
Key Chorale/Circus Arts Conservatory’s Cirque des Voix When: 7 p.m. March 22 and 2 and 7 p.m. March 23 Where: at Sailor Circus Arena, 2075 Bahia Vista St. Tickets: $50-$100. Info: Visit KeyChorale.org.
Most trapeze artists, jugglers and high-wire walkers perform to recorded music. Other circus groups have been accompanied by an orchestra, but CAC Co-founder and CEO Pedro Reis says Cirque des Voix was the first to incorporate voice. Others have followed. Bragging rights aside, Sarasota’s rich circus heritage, Reis’s formidable industry contacts and the area’s great March weather make this a perfect place for what Reis describes as an “epic” performance. Like many collaborations, the Cirque des Voix didn’t happen overnight. According to both Caulkins and Reis, the godfather of Cirque des Voix was former Key Chorale Executive Director Richard Storm, a longtime music critic who died in 2019 at the age of 82. Around 2010, Storm kept prodding Caulkins to meet with Reis in the hopes that Key Chorale would join forces with the CAC for a show. “I thought it was a terrible idea,” Caulkins recalled during a recent interview at the Sailor Circus Arena that also included Reis. “Rich-
ard kept setting up meetings, and I would postpone them. But you can only put off a meeting for so long. Finally, I said to Richard, ‘Let’s go meet your circus guy.’” It’s not that Caulkins has anything against collaboration. Indeed, under his leadership, Key Chorale has embarked on a number of partnerships with other area arts organizations, including the Venice Symphony and Booker High School VPA Choir. There was even a “Bachtoberfest” in October 2023 with Calusa Brewing Co. that brought together beer and the music of Johannes Sebastian Bach. Caulkins just didn’t think a joint production with the circus would strike the right note with Key Chorale audiences. For his part, Reis knew partnering with Key Chorale would yield something that was greater than the sum of its parts. “I knew it would work because it’s different kinds of energy and disciplines. You bring the energies together in a profound, posi-
tive way and you build an incredible show,” he says. At their much-delayed meeting, Caulkins and Reis were able to decide on a name and map out a structure in less than an hour. The first Cirque des Voix took place in 2011 and was a nostalgic affair with clowns and horses. Originally, the partners thought they were embarking on a one-time collaboration that might have an encore. They didn’t realize Cirque des Voix would have staying power, but it has. With the exception of pandemic-induced cancellations in 2020 and in 2021, it has become a much-anticipated event of the season. Cirque des Voix has also evolved over the years, bringing glamour to the circus with world-class performers accompanied by dramatic music from screen and stage. “We don’t have any clowns. We don’t have any animals,” Caulkins SEE CIRCUS, PAGE 2
Circus Arts Conservatory CEO Pedro Reis and Key Chorale Artistic Director Joseph Caulkins share the spotlight at the 2023 Cirque des Voix.