Band leader Roger Hewett on bringing Cirque du Soleil Corteo to Glasgow

Roger Hewett is an accomplished musician that has previously worked for big companies like Paramount, Warner Bros. and Disney, and now leads the live music band for Cirque du Soleil’s Corteo.

Roger has never been to Glasgow before and is excited to bring the show to the city for the first time.

He told The Glasgow Times: “A lot of my heritage comes from Scotland.

“I’m looking forward to coming here and I’ve heard so much about the city.

“I know it's been going through a major sort of revamp recently.

“So, I’m really looking forward to seeing that.”

Roger Hewett, Cirque du Soleil Corteo (Image: Roger Hewett, Cirque du Soleil Corteo)

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Cirque du Soleil is a performance that combines acrobatics, theatre, storytelling and live music and prides itself on being a circus that doesn’t use animals in its shows.

The Corteo production will be touring the UK for the first time with performances at the OVO Hydro from October 12 to 15.

Roger said: “The story is of a clown that’s dreaming of his funeral.

“It sounds like a morbid topic but it’s more like a celebration of his life.

“He’s meeting up with his friends and family from the past and reliving his past experiences.

“He goes through moments of joy, moments of sadness and depths, but on the whole it’s a really light subject.”

In his role as a band leader for the show, Roger has to make sure the music keeps pace with the live performance even if something goes wrong.

He said: “I’ve been leading the band on this show since the very beginning.

“It’s different to even doing a regular Cirque show because the band on this show is divided into four different pits.”

The musicians are about 100 feet apart and they must communicate through earphones during the performance.

Roger said: “I’m basically speaking all the way through the show, and everyone has their eyes glued to the stage so they can anticipate what’s going to happen with the action.

“The music at this point is very well memorised and nobody is reading anything anymore.

“It’s my job to keep things in line with the action going on the stage to get the music to match, hopefully seamlessly.

“If something happens on stage, something goes wrong or things change a little bit as they do in a live organic show, then the music can follow along seamlessly.

“Most of the time we get away with it and people don’t notice that something has happened.

“It keeps it very interesting for us to keep it along those lines.”

He added: “We use very minimal tracks so what you hear from us is certainly live.

“And what I like about this show too is it has a very human touch to it.

“Most of the artists wear minimal makeup so you can really see the human side to this.

“Every time I watch the finale, I always have a lump in my throat, there’s something very, very special and deep about it.”

Roger Hewett, Cirque du Soleil Corteo (Image: Roger Hewett, Cirque du Soleil Corteo)

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Roger says the important thing is to come with an open mind, and that while it’s a deep topic, it’s still a lot of fun.

He said: “You’ll get a laugh, you’re going to cry, you can touch a lot of emotions.

“But it’s a very uplifting experience. The children love it.

“It’s great to turn around and hear the children laughing along with what’s going on, on stage.

“It’s the most joyful experience, stepping out of reality for events and just taking some time for yourself to enjoy something.”