Circa & The Art of Fugue

The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra joins forces with Brisbane’s premier acrobatic troupe Circa for the boundary-pushing Circa & The Art of Fugue at Concert Hall, QPAC on Tuesday, August 5. 

Combining the daring artistry of acrobatics with Brandenburg’s vibrant interpretation of Johann Sebastian Bach’s masterpiece The Art of Fugue, this is a performance not to be missed.

For what will be their fifth collaboration, Circa & The Art of Fugue brings together the meticulous intellect of one of JS Bach’s most complex works with the breathtaking physicality of contemporary acrobatics, in a celebration of human potential.

Taking the unfinished masterpiece The Art of Fugue as its musical and philosophical foundation, the concert series evolved from both Circa’s Artistic Director Yaron Lifschitz and the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra’s Artistic Director Paul Dyer’s long-standing desire to stage a performance of this profound composition. It is believed that the work was composed near the end of Bach’s life, a summation of everything he knew about music. 

Although incomplete, The Art of Fugue is one of Bach’s most intricate pieces of music. The work comprises a single musical theme that is transformed and elaborated across 14 fugues and four canons, each more complex than the last. Not only is the instrumentation of the work unspecified, the final movement breaks off mid-sentence, sparking centuries of debate and interpretation. 

Joining the Orchestra on stage, Lifschitz’s dynamic choreography will see the Circa acrobats move in canon, opposition and harmony, reflecting the musical lines and contrapuntal structure of the music. Here sound and movement become inseparable as the alchemy of Bach’s music is embodied in motion.

Good to know - Discounts available for pension card holders, unwaged, full time students, youths (under 40 years of age at the time of booking) and adult groups of more than 10.

Need to know - Performance duration is 1 hour, 30 minutes, no interval.

Australian Brandenburg Orchestra is a valued partner of Must Do Brisbane.com