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Music Acrobats and Horses at Cavalia
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by Alice Stands
 The seamless musical backdrop of live electronics and instruments behind the jaw-dropping equestrian and acrobatic theater production Cavalia lends its success to a carefully thought out workflow that utilizes technology at its centre. With a team of more than 40 horses on a stage wide enough to work up a gallop, plus a cast of acrobats, aerialists, riders and dancers, Cavalia is a controlled frenzy of a performance that’s constantly changing. In a show where surprises might come up at any moment, synchronizing the music to such an spontaneous environment and obtain consistent results every time is an acrobatic act of its own.
Photo by
Frédéric Chélu. Click for larger image
Heading up a six-piece live band from behind a keyboard rig based around Ableton Live, musical director Sylvain Gagnon created the solution they were looking for--and composed most of the original score in the bargain.
Through the translucent projection screen that serves as a backdrop across the length of the stage, if one looks closely enough, one can see the live musicians follow the visual cues of the performance below. In the center of this stealthy bandstand is the mini-studio setup of Sylvain Gagnon. If all goes to plan, the musicians play along with pre-recorded loops in Ableton without interjection. If, however, the horses are speeding up or lagging, or one of them moves in an unexpected way, a variety of loops and one-shot samples to suit the mood of whatever's happening onstage can be triggered manually--for example, switching to the music for the next performance segment, or repeating the current one as many times as required.Each of the musicians has a headset to communicate with Gagnon and is aware of the carefully mapped-out cue points, ensuring a seamless production where music, horses, and acrobats are part of the same breathtaking ballet.
Much of the music is performed live, with the string sections being played on a Yamaha P90 digital piano that's connected via MIDI to a Yamaha Motif Rack. A Korg Triton LE and Access Virus TI tabletop synth round out the rig. Also at Gagnon's station is a Focusrite ISA-428 mic preamp, through which he runs his keyboards for a warm, lush sound. A 37-key Novation ReMote SL is used to trigger the loops from within Ableton if manual intervention is required. Gagnon and the entire band control their own monitor mixes via Aviom A16R modules, each of which takes a multichannel digital feed from the large-format Yamaha mixer backstage. Editor Stephen Fortner and I were treated to a backstage tour and video interview wherein Sylvain explains his rig. If you can't see the video window below, CLICK HERE to open a separate player. For more information on upcoming Cavalia shows, visit www.cavalia.net.
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