The TSO was conducted by Steven Reineke. He is their Principal Pops Conductor.
The orchestra was sitting very far back on the stage so that the acrobats would have a place to perform. There were aerial flyers, dancers, strong men, a juggler and a lady who could change her clothes very fast.
My favourite piece was "The Ride of the Valkyries" by Richard Wagner. Sagiv Ben Binyamin was on an aerial rope. The orchestra was all together and it was beautiful.
For Sabre Dance from Gayane, by Aram Khachaturian. The orchestra played it wonderfully! The juggler was pretty amusing too. He even juggled with someone from the audience.
People were clapping throughout the songs for the the performers and the orchestra seemed more like background music for them. But, there were some songs that the orchestra performed without the acrobats. I really loved the Intermedio from La Boda de Luis Alonso by Geronimo Gimenez. I really loved the castanets!
It must have been hard for the conductor because he had to figure out the tempo for the music by looking at the performers but the performers were above and behind him. He was twisting and looking up behind him while he was conducting! He even had to duck when a piece of rope was going right by him.
I wonder if it was hard for the musicians to concentrate. The performers were sometimes flying over their heads. It must have been really distracting. But, the musicians of the TSO are excellent and were mostly able to focus while they were playing.
Here's a link to a preview - but not all of these things were in the show:
http://youtu.be/sRQPS_FcEt0
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