Classical music has a problem: young people just aren't listening to it. For the Philharmonia Orchestra and its Finnish conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, 59 (above centre), one solution is VR.
"A symphony orchestra on stage in a concert hall can sometimes be a distant experience," says Salonen. "Captured in VR, it would be a unique way in for people who don't have previous experience of this".
The Philharmonia are no strangers to merging technology and music. Previous projects include a 12-metre touring MusicLab - in which hacked instruments let kids learn the basics, Guitar Hero-style; the iPad app Orchestra; and the Universe of Sound, a walk-through installation of Holst's The Planets.
For VR, the orchestra captured the last movement of Sibelius' "Symphony No.5". A cube of bespoke Inition VR cameras was placed at chair height to achieve a full 360° view.
Just below the cameras, ear-shaped 3Dio binaural microphones recorded the musicians in ambisonic audio. A four-minute demo will be exhibited at the Royal Festival Hall along with Universe Of Sound from September 23 (if you want the full nine-minute movement, you'll have to buy it).
Salonen, meanwhile, is planning for the future: "Material composed for VR," Salonen says. "It's definitely within our reach."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
