The Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra is partnering with The Dust Palace, Auckland’s leading circus theatre company, to present an enthralling and enchanted journey featuring a dazzling display of cirque artistry and skill.

Midnight is a beautiful story told through performance with some of the most evocative music ever written including Debussy’s sublime Clair de lune, Mendelssohn’s spritely A Midsummer Night’s Dream and the heart-wrenching pathos of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.

There will be mime, contortion and highflying acrobatics. With an orchestral soundtrack provided by the APO, Midnight promises to be an experience that will delight both young and old.

Bookings: https://www.aucklandlive.co.nz/show/midnight#tickets-times

SYNOPSIS

ACT ONE
We begin in a fairytale world set to the stately
rococo reveries of Ravel’s Menuet Antique.
From the audience appears a curious-looking
man carrying a case and a violin. His playing
conjures magical creatures and as the
orchestra flies into Mendelssohn’s March of
the Fairies, uncanny capers ensue.
The Narrator exits speedily in pursuit of
mischievous spirits, and as we first meet our
resplendent King and Queen, Tchaikovsky’s
Hungarian Dance skips underneath. Soon,
however, the King falls desperately ill and the
doctor is urgently called for. Together, the Queen
and doctor must venture into the forest to find
medicine that might save the King. Beethoven’s
Coriolan Overture guides their way.
Fairies set hula hoops and birdcages dancing to
the music of Respighi’s The Hen and a Romance
from Shostakovich’s Ballet Suite No.1. The
delicate, floating melodies of Debussy’s Clair de
Lune conjure the Lyra Fairy who mesmerises the
Queen, when stilt-walking spirits invade with
Prokifiev’s Dance of the Knights. The Queen is
separated from the doctor and stranded in the
sky as a Chopin fantasy plays.

ACT TWO
The lost doctor finds his way back to the
orchestra where he attempts to conduct a
Shostakovich polka. He’s soon shooed off the
podium by our rightful maestro, who opens
the second act with Mendelssohn’s overture
to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
We return to the feverish King whose deathly
nightmares are underscored by Chopin’s
Marche funèbre. Meanwhile a group of pixies
rush to the aid of the Queen as the mechanical
delights of Prokofiev’s The Factory plays.
Dvořák’s Slavonic Dance conjures a fairy atop
a Cyr wheel, who finally releases the Queen.
Reunited, the doctor and Queen resume
their journey accompanied by a Lyric Waltz
from Shostakovich. However, a group of
doppelgängers imitating the doctor and
inspired by Liadov’s Baba-Yaga, begin to cruelly
manhandle her. The Fairy King and Queen
intervene to save our own feisty monarch and a
Pas de Deux from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker
sees her finally securing the crucial medicine.
The Queen, her recovered King and a band of
fairy helpers celebrate to the triumphs of the
final scene from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake.

PERFORMERS IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE - The Dust Palace: K.B.G Purple, Ella Edward, Ariel Cronin, Quinn Vale, Rochelle Mangan, Eve Gordon, Geoff Gilson, Trygve Wakenshaw, Jaine Mieka, Jay Clement, Johan De Carvalho, Sam Hankins, Harry Adams, Reid McGowan, Edward Clendon

Crew:
AUCKLAND LIVE PRODUCTION MANAGER: Nicola Blackman
SOUND DESIGNER/ ENGINEER: Doug Jane – Oceania
LIGHTING DESIGNER/OPERATOR: Michael Craven – The Dust Palace
RIGGING:  Chris Browne – CP Solutions; Greg Kolbe – The Dust PalacePerformers: 

for the APO:
MUSIC DIRECTOR
Giordano Bellincampi
CONCERTMASTER
Andrew Beer
ASSOCIATE
CONCERTMASTER
Liu-Yi Retallick
ASSISTANT
CONCERTMASTER
Miranda Adams
FIRST VIOLINS
Artur Grabczewski#
Mark Bennett
Elzbieta Grabczewska
Ainsley Murray
Alexander Shapkin
Caroline von Bismarck
Yanghe Yu
Lucy Qi Zhang
Yuri Cho
SECOND VIOLINS
Dianna Cochraneβ
Xin (James) Jin+
William Hanfling#
Rae Crossley-Croft =
Sarah Hart
Jocelyn Healy
Rachel Moody
Milena Parobczy
Ewa Sadag
Katherine Walshe
VIOLAS
Robert Ashworthβ
David Samuel+
Christine Bowie#
Anne Draffin#
Helen Bevin
Ping Tong Chan
Gregory McGarity
Susan Wedde
CELLOS
David Garner +
Liliya Arefyeva#
James sang-oh Yoo
Katherine Hebley
You Lee
Callum Hall
BASSES
Gordon Hillβ
Annabella Zilber +
Evgueny Lanchtchikov#
Matthias Erdrich
Michael Steer
FLUTES
Melanie Lançonβ
Kathryn Moorhead+
PICCOLO
Jennifer Seddon-Mori*
OBOES
Bede Hanleyβ
Camille Wells+
COR ANGLAIS
Martin Lee*
CLARINETS
Bridget Miles (Bass
Clarinet)+
James Fry (Eb Clarinet)+
BASSOONS
Ingrid Haganβ
Yang Rachel Guan
Ebbett+
CONTRABASSOON
Ruth Brinkman*
HORNS
Nicola Baker β
Emma Eden*
Carl Wells#
Simon Williams#
David Kay
TRUMPETS
Huw Dannβ
Jonah Levy +
Norman McFarlane+
TROMBONES
Douglas Crossβ
Mark Close#
BASS TROMBONE
Timothy Sutton*
TUBA
Tak Chun Lai*
TIMPANI
Steven Loganβ
PERCUSSION
Eric Renickβ
Jennifer Raven#
Shane Currey
HARP
Rebecca Harris*
COMPOSERIN-
RESIDENCE
Karlo Margetić
GUEST MUSICIANS
Charmian Keay –
Second Violin
Andrew Uren – Clarinet
Jillian Christoff – Horn
Stephen Bemelman –
Trumpet
Rebecca Celebuski –
Percussion
Yi Jin – Harp
David Kelly – Celeste/
Piano

Spectacle , Performance installation , Multi-discipline , Cirque-aerial-theatre ,

2 hours