On Thursday 18 October, Light Odyssey will bring the iconic Empress Ballroom in Blackpool’s Winter Gardens to life with 3D animation, to push the boundaries of light, space and sound. Partnering with BBC Philharmonic, this spectacular and one-off performance will transform the ballroom’s magnificent interior with an explosion of light, as international teams of animators project bespoke visuals onto the stage, sides, and ceiling.
The 90-minute performance will include 90 musicians, led by acclaimed Norwegian conductor Eivind Aadland, in his first UK engagement with BBC Philharmonic. Live performances of Copland, Britten and Saint-Saëns, and classical favourites such as Barber’s Adagio for Strings, will fill the air with music that invokes the sea and a sense of place, experienced anew with light.
A 3D model of the ballroom has been especially created to enable tailor-made projection visuals that will interpret the music and the architecture in a new way. And following an international call-out with close to 50 applications, we have selected 6 artists to each create sections of the visual show, all choreographed to music chosen by BBC Philharmonic. In partnership with London Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the next generation of animators complete this epic journey.
The jaw-dropping building transformation will require extraordinary technical vision, made possible by utilising the very latest in laser projection technology. Technical partner QED Productions, as pioneers of the use of projection-mapping technology, are uniquely placed to deliver the enormous challenge that Light Odyssey presents.
Light Odyssey launches the Lightpool Festival 2018, an international showcase of light and fire celebrating the world-famous Blackpool illuminations. It has been made possible with public funding from Arts Council England.
The BBC Philharmonic, known for its innovative and versatile music-making, has its home in Salford and enjoys worldwide recognition. Its adventurous approach to programming places new and neglected music in the context of the established classical canon and the orchestra performs over 100 concerts a year for broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
The orchestra’s passion for bringing classical music to new audiences has seen collaborations with Clean Bandit, The 1975, Jarvis Cocker, Will Young, The Courteeners, Rag’n’Bone Man, Elbow and The xx. Known for its range of creative partnerships, the orchestra’s recent work across BBC North includes performing at 2017’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards and recording music for the title sequence of the BBC Proms TV coverage in 2017. The orchestra also records for CD/download and has delivered over 250 recordings for Chandos, selling close to one million albums.
