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Duration2hrs
- Thursday, December 31, 2026 8:00PM — Des Moines Civic Center Tickets →
New Year's Eve Pops: Cirque – Symphonic Cinema
Step into the movies this New Year’s Eve! The Des Moines Symphony transforms the Civic Center into a cinematic spectacle, where unforgettable film scores meet breathtaking artistry from the world-renowned Cirque performers of Troupe Vertigo.
Featuring brand-new acts, dazzling aerial choreography, gravity-defying acrobatics and larger-than-life symphonic sound, this thrilling fusion of film music and motion will leave you on the edge of your seat. Ring in the New Year with fresh surprises, spectacular artistry and the magic of Cirque – Symphonic Cinema!
Keep the Celebration Going with New Year’s Eve Pops: After Dark
The music ends around 10, but the celebration is just getting started! Join the Des Moines Symphony for New Year's Eve Pops: After Dark, a festive New Year’s Eve celebration following Cirque – Symphonic Cinema. Relax and enjoy drinks, decadent desserts, charcuterie and good company in a spacious setting designed for you to linger, mingle and celebrate. Learn More >>
Event Sponsors
Presenting Sponsors
Program
- KORNGOLD Overture to Captain Blood
- Lalo SHIFFRIN, Arr. Custer Mission Impossible Theme
- BARRY, Arr. Bulla Goldfinger Theme, James Bond
- ROSZA Ben Hur Suite
- John WILLIAMS Tango "Por una Cabeza"
- John WILLIAMS, Arr. Holcomb Cantina Band
- John WILLIAMS Love Theme from Superman
- John WILLIAMS Devil's Dance from Witches of Eastwick
- STRAUSS, Jr. The Beautiful Blue Danube
- DUKAS Sorcerer's Apprentice
- John WILLIAMS Imperial March
- John WILLIAMS Flight to Neverland
- Klaus BADELT, Arr. Ricketts Pirates of the Caribbean Medley
- Arr. Ricketts Chicago Medley
- Bruce HEALEY Fanfare for Midnight
Performers
- Troupe Vertigo Guest Artists Bio
Learn More
Join us 45 minutes before the concert in the Prairie Meadows (East) Lobby for a free Concert Prelude Talk. Led by Dr. Eric McIntyre of Grinnell College, these discussions are complimentary to ticket holders and offer engaging and topical commentary on the featured program.
Digital Program Books
In an effort to reduce our environmental impact and preserve natural resources, we now offer a Digital Program Book. Click here to read about the program, guests artists and composers featured this weekend.
Plan Your Visit
Click here to learn where to park, what to wear, when to arrive and more.
Safe Ticket Buying
When purchasing tickets to any Symphony concert, customers should only use the following methods to guarantee valid tickets and seating: The Des Moines Civic Center Ticket Office, The Des Moines Performing Arts website, call (515) 246-2300.
Des Moines Performing Arts cannot guarantee the authenticity of tickets purchased from any other reseller (such as brokers or individuals).
Troupe Vertigo Guest Artists
Los Angeles-based theatrical circus company Troupe Vertigo was founded in 2009 by Aloysia Gavre (Cirque du Soleil) and her husband Rex Camphuis (Pickle Family Circus/ Film & Theater Producer). They create an eclectic and refreshing mix of circus-dance-theater works that ignite the imagination with mentally and physically spellbinding performances.
Troupe Vertigo encompasses the wide spectrum of the performing arts including performances at Theaters, Concert Halls, Festivals and Special Events.
Troupe Vertigo has been creatively involved with world class symphonies contributing widely with their theatrical sensibilities to help create new audiences to symphonic concerts, including most recently with renowned Maestro Jack Everly for Cirque Goes Broadway and Cirque Cracker with the Phoenix Symphony.
Their unique perspective on the circus arts have led to a variety of speaking engagements including with The Center Theater Group Los Angeles, Directors Lab West, TEDx Talk and The Chicago Contemporary Circus Festival. Troupe Vertigo has been featured in publications for the cover story of Dance Teacher Magazine (August 2016) and in the book Ordinary Acrobat.
Troupe Vertigo premiered its first show, Big Top for a New Generation, in Los Angeles in 2010 at the Ford Amphitheater with rock n' roll group Nightmare & The Cat featuring Django and Sam Stewart.
The company returned to the Ford Amphitheater in 2012 with Nighthawks: A Film Noir Circus inspired by American Jazz, Edward Hopper paintings and the gritty streets of crime novels from Hammett to Chandler.
2016 brought the creation of their newest work to life entitled TABLEAUX, originally presented by the Dance Resource Center at the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles. Tableaux features five women inquiring about confinement and freedom, while finding themselves constrained on an island of boxes, trapped by the constrictions of society and themselves.
Troupe Vertigo’s facility is also home to Cirque School, LA’s premier circus training space, which inspires an appreciation for the circus arts for "Anybody with Any Body".
Due to their Los Angeles home and having Cirque School as their sister company, Aloysia & Rex's expertise is used often for the film & television industry; most notably for Rebel Wilson's aerial performance in Pitch Perfect 2 and with Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz, who utilized Cirque School resources not only for circus instruction but for character background research for the film Water for Elephants.
