Cirque de la Symphonie – Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion

Lopez-Yañez is the newly named Principal Pops Conductor of the Pacific Symphony commencing in the 2023-2024 season. In addition, Lopez-Yañez is the Principal Pops Conductor of the Nashville Symphony where he leads the Symphony’s Pops and Family Series. Lopez-Yañez is quickly establishing himself as one of the Nation’s leading conductors of popular music and becoming known for his unique style of audience engagement. Since working with the Nashville Symphony, Lopez-Yañez has conducted concerts with a broad spectrum of artists including: Nas, Patti LaBelle, Itzhak Perlman, Stewart Copeland, Kenny Loggins, Toby Keith, Leslie Odom Jr., Megan Hilty, Tituss Burgess and more. Lopez-Yañez also conducts the annual Let Freedom Sing! Music City July 4th fireworks show which was first televised on CMT in 2019 reaching millions of viewers across the nation.

In the upcoming season, Lopez-Yañez will collaborate with artists including Aida Cuevas, Cody Fry, The Beach Boys, Ben Folds, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Vanesa Williams and Pink Martini. Lopez-Yañez will appear with the Baltimore Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Pittsburgh Symphony, Philadelphia Orchesrea, Phoenix Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, and Seattle Symphony as well as make return appearances with the Dallas Symphony, Detroit Symphony, Indianapolis Symphony and Omaha Symphony.

As Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Symphonica Productions, LLC, Lopez-Yañez curates and leads programs designed to cultivate new audiences. An enthusiastic proponent of innovating the concert experience, his exciting education, classical, and pops concerts are performed by orchestras across the United States.

Cirque de la Symphonie is a unique and exciting production designed to bring the magic of cirque to the music hall. An elegant fusion of cirque and orchestra, the program showcases many of the best cirque artists in the world, thrilling the audience with aerial flyers, acrobats, contortionists, dancers, jugglers, balancers, and strongmen. These accomplished veterans include world record holders, gold-medal winners, Olympians, and some of the most original talent ever seen.
A founder, Alexander Streltsov, created the concept of cirque paired with symphony in 1998 in a special PBS production with the Cincinnati Pops. Streltsov, a circus veteran from Moscow, is the only aerialist to perform with the Bolshoi Ballet. After winning the gold medal at the prestigious Festival du Mondial in Paris, he starred in a Broadway production. His music and programming sensibilities combined with performance background to provide a program with stunning three dimensional visual and musical elements. Classical masterpieces are perfectly choreographed to the elegant movements of cirque artists, elevating cirque artistry to a fine arts level.
Cirque de la Symphonie performs with dozens of orchestras across North America and beyond each season. Sold-out venues feature a wave of new faces that includes families, students and young professionals, many witnessing a live orchestra for the first time. Something magical happens when these cirque veterans take the stage in front of the live orchestra. Audiences are mesmerized by aerialists flying over their heads. Children are amazed at the wizardry of juggling feats and magic acts. The strength and flexibility of strongmen and contortionists leave audiences astounded. Everyone departs with smiles beaming from their faces.