Last Saturday the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra played an innovative virtual concert broadcast live to three different audiences.
The Sound of Gaming saw the orchestra perform a concert of video game songs live at the BBC Studios, broadcast to BBC Radio 3 listeners and online to a virtual audience of avatars in the BBC Portal on 23 November.
The initiative allowed up to 2000 people to join the virtual Philharmonic studios where they could play games, fly around and watch the orchestra perform via a livestream from the studios – making the beauty of a live orchestra accessible to everyone.
The orchestra performed a playlist of video game songs, including tracks from Call of Duty, Starfield, Dear Esther and World of Warcraft.
Live in the studio, the broadcast was a military operation, executed seamlessly by experts of the field.
Performing the music live truly achieved what the songs are made for – translating the message of the game into an emotional map for the listener: from the horrors of war to the vastness of space and to the isolation of the Scottish countryside.
The show was conducted by Eímear Noone – an award-winning conductor and composer who made the audience feel at ease as it was apparent we were in safe hands.
Elle Osili-Wood – the presenter of the BBC Radio 3 show The Sound of Gaming – presented the show with effortless professionalism despite the high stakes of the broadcast.
The quality of the musicians and their performance was a joy to witness, and the standout performance by the Soprano Andrea Delaney was breath taking.
The show finished with a performance of the Tetris Opera track Finale – an upbeat and jovial tune that got everybody’s feet tapping along and enjoying the fun that games offer to people.
The Sound of Gaming Live is available on the BBC Sounds App until 24 December.
Featured Image: BBC Studios at Media City
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