Girard to Helm Cirque du Soleil Spectacular at Radio City, Jun. 2011

Cirque du Soleil announced today that it will debut a major new acrobatic spectacle next summer at the legendary Radio City Music Hall in New York. Proudly presented by iShares®, the new show, whose name will be announced in the coming weeks, will be directed by acclaimed film and theatre director François Girard (The Red Violin, Silk). Created especially for the landmark theater, previews will begin for the new production in June 2011, with the premiere date to be confirmed shortly.

Directed by François Girard, the new show takes place in an abandoned theatre and follows a magician who has lost his love and with her, his magic has disappeared. As he cries and begs the Gods for her return he is plunged into a world inhabited by surreal creatures. The diverse cast of 71 International Artists transports the audience into a fantastical and suspenseful world, blurring the boundaries between the real and imaginary.

Along with François Girard, the creative team consists of 12 creators under the artistic guidance of Cirque du Soleil Founder Guy Laliberté and Gilles Ste-Croix:

François Girard - Writer and Director
One of Quebec's most highly-regarded creators, François Girard is equally at ease in cinema (Silk, The Red Violin), opera, visual arts and theatre and has earned an enviable international reputation over the years. A keen music lover, he is particularly known for the hybrid worlds he creates in which music plays a predominant role. His works are recognized for their great musicality, both in terms of sound and image. This will be his second creation for Cirque du Soleil, following ZED, the Tokyo resident show.

Line Tremblay - Director of Creation
Line Tremblay has worked in many capacities for Cirque du Soleil since the company was founded in 1984. Starting in 1992 she worked as the assistant to the director for the creation of the shows Mystère, Alegría, Quidam, "O" and La Nouba. Line also contributed her talent to Quidam as Artistic Director and was Director of Creation for the Corteo and ZED.

Stéphane Roy - Set and Props Designer
Stéphane Roy has worked as both a set designer and artistic director on over 100 productions in Montreal and abroad. While primarily active in theatre and dance, he has also worked in film, television, advertising and variety shows. Stéphane designed the sets for the Cirque du Soleil shows Dralion, Varekai, Zumanity and KOOZA.

Alan Hranitelj - Costume Designer
Alan Hranitelj has participated in many group exhibitions and fashion shows both in Slovenia, where he's been living for the past 25 years, and abroad. In 1991, he designed haute couture collections in Milan, but he soon quit catwalks and returned to his first love, stage. He mostly designs for drama, opera and film. This is his first show for Cirque du Soleil.

Nick Littlemore - Composer and Musical Director
Nick Littlemore is an Australian musician and producer, known as frontman of acclaimed electronic act Pnau (with Peter Mayes) and one part of electro pop-duo Empire of the Sun (with Luke Steele). He is also a member of art-rock band Teenager (with Pip Brown a.k.a Ladyhawke). As a producer he has worked with Sir Elton John, Groove Armada, Ellie Goulding, Robbie Williams, Flora Purim and many others. This new production will be his first collaboration with Cirque du Soleil.

Sir Elton John will be guiding his protégé Nick Littlemore through the creative process of this new production.

Debra Brown - Choreographer
Dancer and choreographer Debra Brown is internationally-renowned for her unique body of work blending acrobatics and dance. Ever keen to diversify and reinvent, Debra has forged her impressive and unconventional creative path, working with artists and groups from a wide variety of disciplines. She worked with François Girard on ZED and this new production will be her eleventh production with Cirque du Soleil.

Elena Kolyadenko - Choreographer
Elena Kolyadenko has been active in the artistic world in Ukraine and Russia for many years. For the past seven years, she has created and has been managing the Ukraine dance group Freedom Ballet. She has worked on a number of productions on many capacities: casting, staging, musical orchestration, and costume design. Moreover, she has been a ballet coach for the Shchepkin Theater (Ukraine), as well as manager and choreographer for the Art Classic Ballet. This will be her first collaboration with Cirque du Soleil.

Alain Lortie - Lighting Designer
More than 25 years ago, Alain Lortie began working with multi-talented Quebec artists such as Michel Lemieux, Marie Chouinard and Edward Lock, and has since collaborated on many variety, opera and music shows both in Quebec and Europe. He also designed the lighting for several productions in Asia. Alain has worked with many Quebec stage directors including Robert Lepage and François Girard. He created the lighting design for the Cirque du Soleil shows Soleil de Minuit and DELIRIUM.

Raymond St-Jean - Image Content Designer
Director, video designer, writer and Editor Raymond Saint-Jean began his career directing music videos and short films. Since then, he has turned to dramas, documentaries and films about the performing arts. Raymond has made his talents as a "video set designer" available to a number of artists and companies in the arts world across North America. Raymond previously worked on the Cirque du Soleil show, ZAIA, the resident show in Macau.

Steven Dubuc - Sound Designer
A self-taught creator with an adventurous mind, Steve Dubuc worked on a large number of artistic projects across the globe as a sound engineer, chief sound engineer and sound technician. He has worked as a technical director on various Cirque du Soleil shows. This will be his second Cirque du Soleil show as sound designer, following ZAIA.

Florence Pot - Acrobatic Performance Designer
With her university training in physical education and sports psychology, Florence Pot took on many projects in the world of gymnastics as a trainer and choreographer prior to joining Cirque du Soleil as an acrobatic scout and, later, chief scout. In 2006 she accepted the invitation to become Acrobatic Performance Designer on the Cirque du Soleil resident show ZED in Tokyo-a role she reprised on the big top show TOTEM.

Danny Zen - Rigging and Acrobatic Equipment Designer
Danny Zen first arrived at Cirque du Soleil in 1990 to work as a welder in the company's workshops, and then worked as mechanic, head usher and tent technician before becoming head rigger on Quidam in 1996. Danny also worked at Montreal's National Circus School and later participated in the development of aerial acrobatic elements at Cirque du Soleil. Danny was on the creation team for the big top shows Corteo and KOOZA.

Eleni Uranis - Makeup Designer
Eleni Uranis joined Cirque du Soleil in 1989 as assistant to costume designer Dominique Lemieux. This led to many other projects and in 2004 Eleni's career took a new direction with the Cirque du Soleil makeup department, creating designs for the touring show Dralion. She has also designed the make-up for the Tokyo resident show ZED and the New York seasonal holiday show Wintuk.

iShares® is the presenting sponsor of this new production. American Express® is the official sponsor.

Cirque du Soleil
From a group of 20 street performers at its beginnings in 1984, Cirque du Soleil is now a major Quebec-based organization providing high-quality artistic entertainment. The company has 5,000 employees, including more than 1,200 performing artists from close to 50 different countries.

Cirque du Soleil has brought wonder and delight to more than 100 million spectators in nearly 300 cities on five continents.

For more information about Cirque du Soleil, visit www.cirquedusoleil.com.