26. February 2009
Category: Metropolis of culture
100 Musicians, 50 Locations, One Concert: Hamburg as the world’s largest concert hall
On 2 March 2009 Hamburg’s Philharmoniker will transform their city into the world’s largest concert hall: 100 musicians will give 1 concert in 50 locations! Members of the long-established Hamburg orchestra will forsake the concert platform and scatter around the city.
The programme for the event includes the Second Symphony by Johannes Brahms, surely the city’s most famous composer.
State opera artistic director Simone Young will be pitching her conductor’s desk on the tower of the St. Michaeliskirche, while the orchestra members will spread out over business premises, private homes and public squares in downtown Hamburg. When Simone Young raises her baton, the symphony by Brahms will be heard at 50 locations. Hamburgians will be witnesses to a totally new form of concert: they will be able to hear the separate instrumental groups, and later on the whole symphony on the Internet at www.philharmoniker-event.de.
Technical implementation of the project is complex and calls for sophisticated logistics: All the musicians will be able to follow Simone Young’s directions on television via the Hamburg television channel »Hamburg 1«. Their playing together will also be coordinated with the aid of a “common sound”. For the Internet page an extract from recordings form the locations will be mixed together, producing an absolutely characteristic sound image: The city’s music played by the city’s orchestra.
The idea and the scheme originated from Hamburg-based advertising and creative agency Jung von Matt. »From the very first moment all those involved were agreed that it was only a happening like this that could do justice to such an ambitious and innovative orchestra as the Hamburg Philharmonic,« says Götz Ulmer, CEO of Jung von Matt. »So the idea for this unique event was born, for ‘the world’s most extensive concert’. It is the finest proof of just what a non-classical guise classical music can assume.« Artistic director Simone Young is equally enthusiastic: »This event is a logistic challenge and I am very curious to see how we shall bring off this ‘crazy’ project together. We shall be taking the music to all the corners displaying Hamburg’s true character. We want to stir enthusiasm in the city, with all Hamburgians realizing that we belong among them. «
In Hamburg, love of music has always been an element in striking the right note socially. The Hamburg State Opera, the citizens’ opera founded in 1678, has been among the best in Europe ever since then. Telemann’s works became famous all over Europe, while both Mendelssohn and Brahms were born in Hamburg. Mahler conducted at the Stadttheater. The Beatles started their career in the clubs around the Reeperbahn that today are still home to what is certainly the liveliest and most creative music scene on the continent. Just now, moreover, Hamburg with the new Elbe Philharmonic Hall Hamburg is building itself not just one of the world’s best and most spectacular concert halls, but a new beacon.
100 Musicians, 50 Locations, 1 Concert: Hamburg, March 2nd, 2009
For more details of the concert: www.philharmoniker-event.de, more information about Hamburg: www.mediarelations.hamburg.de
Media Service:
Photo material on this event is available on the Internet under www.mediaserver.hamburg.de for download free of charge. (Note: Lives-photos are available from March 3rd!)
For preview and download film material on the event of broadcast quality, simply log on at www.thenewsmarket.com/HamburgMarketing. Following a registration and preview, the material here can be downloaded or ordered free of charge. The footage material is of broadcast standard or of streaming quality video for use on the Internet. Flexible supply using, among others, digital FTP transfer, Beta SP tape, Data-DVD and streaming download (Flash, QuickTime and Windows Media). Registration and use of the contents are free of charge for the media! (Note: from February 26th there´s a teaser available, real livesequences are online from March 3rd).
Kontakte / Contacts:
Philharmoniker Hamburg
Bettina Bermbach
Press spokeswoman
Grosse Theaterstrasse 25, 20354 Hamburg, Germany
Fon: + 49/40/35 68-406, Fax: + 49/40/35 68-308
Mail: Bettina.Bermbach(at)staatsoper-hamburg.de
www.staatsoper-hamburg.de
Hamburg Marketing GmbH
Media Relations
Guido Neumann
Habichtstrasse 41, D-22305 Hamburg, Germany
Fon: +49-40-41 11 10 – 617, Fax: +49-40-41 11 10 - 615
Mobil: +49-160 97 29 83 02
Mail: guido.neumann(at)marketing.hamburg.de
www.marketing.hamburg.de