Listening to a soundtrack years after seeing a movie can rekindle memories and emotions. Feelings of romance, excitement, fondness and passion return without the necessity of seeing the picture again.
Composer Linda Hudes magically achieves the same effect with her original score for “Barnum’s Kaleidoscape,” a unique circus show presented by Ring-ling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. Long after the tent has folded and the circus has moved on, you can sit and listen to the music and relive the memories experienced in much the same way as an old movie soundtrack.

Close your eyes and you can envision Sylvia Zerbini, svelte and beautiful, dangling by her heels from a trapeze high overhead without a net as the haunting violin solo soars over a pulsating rhythm section. Or smile at the memory of the clown, David Larible, and his seamless interaction with unsuspecting audience members.

It is impossible to separate the power and influence of the music from the live performance. Hudes worked for more than a year in preparation, composing and orchestrating all original music.

“I was the first person to write original music for the circus in America,” she says. “I see this as another great venue to play great music.”

Hudes knows of what she speaks. A classically trained pianist, she graduated from the Hartt College of Music and continued with graduate study at the New England Conservatory of Music. Twenty-five years ago, she married Rik Albani, music director for the show. He shared his love for jazz and rock music with her, and over the years she has incorporated all styles of composition into her work.

Hudes has composed for countless musical settings, from movie scores to other circuses. She was associated with “The Big Apple Circus” in New York City for more than 18 years.

“I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve never had a day without work in my entire career. I’ve been commissioned to write modern dance scores, received composer grants and played in public theater in addition to fronting my own band, the Linda Hudes Power Trio.”

But the circus offered special challenges. In creating music for new acts in the show, she frequently composed from the director’s vague description of what the act might become and the producer’s sense of probable direction and, most frustratingly, the undefined length of each new act.

“I was constantly trying to pin them down on time. But until that happened, I listened to the adjectives they used describing the talent. My studio walls were plastered with costume designs and lighting schematics.”