[A presence-evoking immersive installation at Princeton University this month uses virtual reality and spatial sound to enable audience members to (seem to) move around in the same spaces as performing orchestra musicians. Details about the public event are in the announcement from Princeton Online below; follow the links at the end for more information (the two-minute preview video is also on YouTube). Earlier coverage is available from WHYY and The Daily Princetonian. –Matthew]

[Image: Credit: Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Source: Inside Princeton.]
Groundbreaking Virtual Reality & Spatial Sound Installation Returns to Princeton University Concerts
Princeton University Concerts (PUC) brings the fan-favorite Mahler Chamber Orchestra experience in virtual reality and spatial sound back to Princeton, NJ, this time with a new program of music exclusively from Felix Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
December 20, 2024
PRINCETON, NJ – “I truly felt that I was with the orchestra, but in a complete way,” remarked an attendee of Princeton University Concerts’ sold-out January 2024 North American premiere of Mahler Chamber Orchestra’s Future Presence experience in virtual reality and spatial sound. “I felt that the sounds were washing over me—the orchestral sound that you would hear if you were attending a concert, but then the sound that you would hear as if as a ghost of Mendelssohn, just moving from player to player.”
Saturday-Monday, January 11-13, 2025 from 10AM to 10PM on the Princeton University campus, PUC presents an opportunity for audiences to continue getting to know Felix Mendelssohn’s music in this unique way with a new Future Presence program in virtual reality and spatial sound developed by Mahler Chamber Orchestra (MCO). This interactive experience brings participants on a groundbreaking journey through several selections from Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 61, including the beloved, famous “Wedding March.” Tickets for this experience ($10 Student/$20 General) are now on sale at puc.princeton.edu or by calling 609-258-9220. Last year’s installation sold out quickly; patrons are advised to purchase their tickets soon.
“Last year, the North American Premiere of this novel experience was wildly popular and elicited such unexpectedly emotional reactions,” says PUC Director Marna Seltzer. “Of course this is not a replacement for live concertgoing; rather it is an entirely new and exciting way to experience music in an interactive, immediate, immersive, and truly beautiful way. I am excited for this season’s version to take participants through musically narrative excerpts of Felix Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The theatrical nature of this score is thrilling to experience in this new medium.”
With the aid of Meta QuestVR headsets, audiences will be able to move around (or through/over/under!) the musicians as a multi-dimensional recording responds in real-time. Unlike other virtual reality (VR) musical applications that can be experienced at home, Future Presence focuses on 3D sound, recorded with cutting-edge audio technology, that changes as the participant moves around the virtual space. This interactive aural landscape, captured in high-dimension audio, takes precedence within the virtual landscape.
The virtual reality environment will create the illusion that listeners are alone with the musicians, allowing for a remarkably personalized experience of the performance. In contrast to usual concerts and recordings, in which a fixed seating location or an engineer determines the acoustics, Future Presence gives the listener complete freedom to explore, experiencing how the sound changes as they move through the virtual space. The installation, as the developers describe it, “addresses themes of voice, structure, space, collaboration, listening, and fantasy — central themes of music itself” and “transforms the listener’s encounter, undermining prevailing notions of acoustical ‘sweet spots’ and enabling a new and fluid aural experience that mirrors the dynamic interactions inherent in music and between the musicians.”
“One interesting takeaway from our experience last year was the camaraderie fostered among participants, despite the experience being essentially solitary,” Seltzer notes. “We’re lucky to once again have developers Henrik Opperman and Tim Summers join us and engage in impromptu conversations with patrons about the experience, and because this time we are focusing on a single piece of music, we hope to give participants a real sense of journey with Mendelssohn’s magical A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
Timed-entry tickets, $20 General/$10 Students, are now available at puc.princeton.edu or by calling 609-258-9220. Each time slot is limited to eight patrons ages 10 and up. For answers to frequently asked questions about this experience and a video clip preview, visit the event listing at puc.princeton.edu.
ABOUT THE MAHLER CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Since its creation in 1997, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra (MCO) continuously keeps shaping its distinct sound, independent artistic identity, and agile and democratic structure. To this day, the MCO is still governed by its musicians in collaboration with its managing office. The orchestra is constantly on the move in search of the next musical horizon. It has, to date, performed in over 40 countries across five continents. The orchestra received its most significant artistic impulses from its founding mentor, Claudio Abbado, and from Conductor Laureate Daniel Harding. The MCO works closely with a network of Artistic Partners who inspire and shape the orchestra in long-term collaborations. Current MCO Artistic Partnersinclude pianists Mitsuko Uchida and Yuja Wang, as well as violinist Pekka Kuusisto. Concertmasters Matthew Truscott and José Maria Blumenschein lead and direct the orchestra regularly in chamber orchestra repertoire, while the MCO’s longstanding collaboration with Artistic Advisor Daniele Gatti focuses on larger symphonic works. The Mahler Chamber Orchestra began Future Presence collaborating with its Artistic Partner for Immersive Experiences Henrik Oppermann in 2019, when they worked together on Symphony, a virtual reality project featuring former PUC Artist-in-Residence Maestro Gustavo Dudamel.
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