In a traditional music performance situation, the audience has limited means to give feedback (e.g. applause!) and little opportunity to interact with the music's performance. What if this were revisited? 'Open Symphony' is an immersive performance system developed as part of a collaboration between Queen Mary University of London and a Masters graduate of Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Open Symphony explores the creativity and spontaneity of real-time human interaction through an ensemble of performers and an audience using mobile technology. The project aims to extend the nature of live music to enable audience members to meaningfully collaborate in the development of a musical piece. By realigning both music and technology as co-operating tools, audience members actively influence the music being played in a live environment, creating a meaningful mutual experience between multiple audience members and performers. “Open Symphony” creates new musical experiences, new music and new compositional methods. This is made possible by using a wide range of technologies including web, information visualisation, and sensors.
Photos: Open Symphony Performance (QMUL Media and Arts Technology Performance Lab, July 2015, © Mathieu Barthet)
Project Team
Kate Hayes (Guildhall School of Music and Drama Graduate)
Mathieu Barthet, Yongmeng Wu, Leshao Zhang (Queen Mary University of London)
Links
Open Symphony Visualisation Demo Video
Open Symphony Pilot Performance Demo Video
Contact details
Mathieu Barthet
E-mail: m.barthet@qmul.ac.uk
Acknowledgements
