The long awaited iOrchestra project arrived in Cornwall, following its tour of Plymouth and Torbay. This project, developed by the world famous Philharmonia Orchestra, allowed audiences to experience first-hand the incredible world of an orchestra through a large screen digital installation.
During its two weeks on Lemon Quay the installation, housed in a giant tent, was visited by 12,000 visitors, including school groups. The MusicLab touring truck, which offers a suite of hands-on digital music activities, visited communities in Penzance, Liskeard, Heartlands, Bodmin and St Austell. The project culminated in a free family concert by the Philharmonia Orchestra to an audience of over 3000 people on Lemon Quay on Sunday 13th July. The following day, schools were invited to their own Philharmonia concert at the Hall for Cornwall.
iOrchestra will return to Cornwall next summer, with its digital ‘Universe of Sound’ installation on Lemon Quay, the MusicLab will return to the towns visited this year and there will be another free concert. Schools will again be invited to bring groups to the ‘Universe of Sound’ tent, MusicLab truck and Schools Concert. In the meantime, holders of MyOrchestra cards will receive update of activities and special offers.
The Online Orchestra: Connecting Remote Communities through Music
Participation in ensemble music making has been proven to have wide ranging benefits in the areas of social and personal skills, musical skills and health. However in areas where the population is geographically widespread, it is often difficult for participants to physically perform together. Falmouth University has been successful in a bid to the Arts & Humanities Research Council to develop and test a solution.
The aim of The Online Orchestra project is to design an online environment which provides an experience which closely resembles that of playing in a traditional orchestra, thus preserving the benefits of traditional group music making.
The research team, which includes performers, composers, conductors, social scientists, audio engineers and musicologists, will consider the question ‘what can we do differently in order to make online performance a meaningful musical experience?’.
The project will begin with a four-month development phase to design, test, evaluate, and re-design the approach. Phase two of the project will involve composers from the research team writing a series of original works designed specifically for the online environment. Phase three will be run in collaboration with The Philharmonia Orchestra and the Cornwall Music Education Hub, to prepare for the premiere performance by the Online Orchestra as part of the Philharmonia’s Universe of Sound installation in Truro in July 2015. In phase four, a website will be developed that will contain a fully-functional, limited-capacity prototype console to access the online performance environment which, with further investment, will be scalable to enable communities around the UK, and even the world, to form their own online orchestras.
