OC Great Park Summer Concerts
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Music of Cirque du Soleil in concert: raw vocal power plus dreamy, mysterious melodies
Francesca Gagnon, ‘the voice of Alegria’ with Chilean folk icons Inti-Illimani in Irvine CA
07.27.2009 – date/time: Saturday, August 22, 2009 at 8pm location: Orange County Great Park directions: http://www.ocgp.org/visit/hours-directions/ cost: Concert is FREE. Parking is $8. Twitter Pitch
Music of Cirque du Soleil: Francesca Gagnon, the voice of Alegria & Chilean folk icons Inti-Illimani. Aug 22 @OCGP.
News Facts On Saturday, August 22, the Orange County Great Park presents a very special performance combining the talents of Canada’s Francesca Gagnon — the voice of Cirque du Soleil’s "Alegria" — and the multi-faceted, dream-inducing Chilean band Inti-Illimani. Along with being a unique and spellbinding evening in its own right, it’s a musical harbinger of Cirque du Soleil’s planned 2010 residency at the Great Park.
Vocalist Francesca Gagnon – “the voice of Alegria” – sings the music of Cirque du Soleil with Chilean folk icons Inti-Illimani at Orange County Great Park on Saturday, August 22 at 8pm. Free admission.
One of the prime qualities setting Cirque du Soleil apart from all other circuses is its music: Soulful, sweeping, grand, atmospheric; mysterious music that seems alien yet steeped in human experience. Ever since Quebec-born, operatically-trained Francesca Gagnon was tapped to sing in "Alegria" in the early 1990s, fans have considered her the voice of Cirque du Soleil. She toured three continents with them, and it is her unmistakable voice that graces the best-selling "Alegria" soundtrack.
Inti-Illimani is known worldwide for its interpretations of Chilean folk music and jazz, and is respected also for its long history of exile from Chile during the years of military rule. Coming to the Orange County Great Park in winter 2010 is a multi-week run of Cirque du Soleil’s new production
A chance meeting last year with Inti-Illimani led to Gagnon’s current collaboration with them. The Chilean band was formed 42 years ago to preserve and celebrate their land’s folk music. Its members were college students then, involved in their country’s political struggles. The group was on tour in Europe when a military coup overthrew the Chilean government in 1973. Banned in their homeland – where other artists were murdered by the military junta – Inti-Illimani made Italy their base, jokingly calling their exile “the longest tour in history.” Their popularity grew at home, thanks to smuggled recordings, but they weren’t allowed to return home and perform there until 1988.
Kooza; this concert of Cirque du Soleil music celebrates the new relationship between the Great Park and the world renowned Canadian circus. The concerts take place in the fouryear-old Orange County Great Park’s 27-acre Preview Park, a small slice of the future 1,300-acre park in Irvine CA. Irvine Barclay Theatre curated this series of total 17 free summer concerts and dance parties.
Despite – or perhaps due to – their hardships and exile, Inti-Illimani’s music is often dreamlike, utopian, creating a better world of its own in sound. With Francesca Gagnon at the Orange County Great Park, the band will be drawing on it own 400song repertoire plus music from Cirque du Soleil’s "Alegria," "Corteo," "O," "Kà," "Saltimbanco" and "Quidam" productions.
Resource Links
Orange County Great Park Irvine Barclay Theatre Francesca Gagnon
Tags Also participating in the concert will be the children of Costa Mesa-based AllAmerican Boys Choir.
Irvine, Barclay, performing arts, free, concerts, Orange County, Great Park, Cirque du Soleil, Francesca Gagnon, Inti-Illimani,
This unique performance, created especially for this engagement, is one of 17 special summer concerts and dance parties produced for the Orange County Great Park by the Irvine Barclay Theatre. The events are free for all to attend. Performances start at 8 p.m. and take place at the Great Park’s Preview Park, accessible from Sand Canyon Ave. near the I-5. There is ample parking at $8 per vehicle, so load up on friends and family. At the concerts, there is seating for 1,000 people, on a first-come basis, plus ample room for lawn chairs on adjacent spaces. The festival atmosphere of the concerts and dances is enhanced by the on-site Hanger Café bar and vegetarian café, which opens at 6 p.m. (and now features a sound and video feed from the concert stage), and by free rides in the Great Park’s giant orange observation balloon. For more information about events at the Great Park, please visit www.ocgp.org.
Chile, Alegria, All-American Boys Choir
Please direct press inquiries to Sandy Robertson at robertson@thebarclay.org
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6 About OC Great Park Summer Concerts Contacting OC Great Park Summer Concerts OC Great Park Summer Concerts Sand Canyon & Marine Way Irvine, CA 92618 Website: http://www.ocgp.org Press Contact Sandy Robertson Email: robertson@thebarclay.org LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sandy-robertson/10/500/900 Interview Request For artist interviews: contact the individual artist rep listed on the press release Product Sample Request Jim Washburn Email: washburned@earthlink.net
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