discover the mco in vr

1 May 2022

The MCO embarks on a new adventure and bring you Future Presence, a three-chapter project with its Artistic Partner for Immersive Experiences Henrik Oppermann. Through Future Presence, we explore the possibilities of engaging music performance with virtual reality. 

As users with the help of VR headsets explore their virtual environment the sound of the multi-dimensional recording responds in real-time. This 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. In short, where previously an engineer would take the sole authority to determine how the music should be experienced, now the listener has complete freedom to explore for themselves.

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• Generously supported by the German Federal Government Commission for Culture and the Media through "NEUSTART KULTUR".
  

les adieux at the LAEISzhalle hamburg

28 May 2022

Frequent MCO collaborator Patricia Kopatchinskaja returned for the premiere performances of a new concert staging, Les Adieux, which follows the international success of our previous collaboration, Bye Bye Beethoven. In Les Adieux, we are invited to grieve over the rapid deterioration of the environment and to confront the loss of the natural world. 

Anchored by Beethoven's Pastorale, where the conclusion is now replaced by the funeral march from the Eroica, Kopatchinskaja's composite programming then weaves together movements by Schumann and Shostakovich to create an atmosphere that is altogether ethereal, threatening and mournful. By combining these fragments together with visual design, video projections, and lighting, Kopatchinskaja creates a new kind of funeral procession, a raw and visceral requiem that laments the irreversible destruction of our planet – our home – and asks us to say "farewell."

L. v. BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 6 (Pastorale)
L. v. BEETHOVEN "Marcia Funebre" from Symphony No. 3 (Eroica)
R. SCHUMANN "Theme" from Ghost Variations
R. SCHUMANN "Langsam" from Violin Concerto
D. SHOSTAKOVICH "Passacaglia" from Violin Concerto No. 1

• Patricia Kopatchinskaja concept, violin & leader
• Abraham Cupeiro karnyx
  Lani Tran-Duc stage design
  Tabea Rothfuchs & Ruth Stofer video
• Markus Güdel lighting design & technical direction 
• Katharina Pelosi sound design
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  Generously supported by the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media through "NEUSTART KULTUR", with the kind support of Rudolf Augstein Foundation.