Gustavo Dudamel's journey to the essence of classical music in virtual reality

• Season. 2020-21 exhibitions at CaixaForum

• Interview.Dudamel: "Music has the power of social transformation"

From the Liceu to the interior of a violin.

From playing in the middle of the orchestra to the luthier's workshop.

And a tour of the galaxy.

All with

as a cicerone and right there, one meter away, conducting the Mahler Chamber Orchestra as if he were in a trance, in another place, possessed by the

symphony

.

To the sides (and, if you turn, behind) are the musicians, very serious, with precise and perfect gestures, absorbed in another world.

That's

, an unprecedented virtual reality (VR) experience that takes the classic one further.

And closer to us.

"Music is not just entertainment or an isolated space for an elite", claims Dudamel, protagonist of

, an ambitious technological and musical project that the Fundación la Caixa started four years ago.

At that time, Dudamel had already taken some first (and still timid) steps in the world of VR: in 2015, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic of which he is the principal conductor, he recorded a piece by Beethoven to spread the classical to the streets from the city.

For a few weeks, the VANBeethoven van became an extension of the Walt Disney Concert Hall stage: the audience wore glasses and sat in the stalls.

«It was a germ.

warns Dudamel.

Gustavo Dudamel at CosmoCaixa.JOSEP LAGO / AFP

VR level 2:

, nor an installation.

"It's a journey of discovery," launches Dudamel, one of the best conductors of the moment, who likes to experiment with new formats.

begins in a movie theater with a panoramic film without words, only soundscapes: the Mediterranean, New York and a coffee plantation in Colombia.

All environments correspond to a musician from the orchestra.

Afterwards, they proceed to the VR room, with auditorium seats equipped with glasses and headphones [they are disinfected after each use].

What Dudamel calls

is the

both the sounds and noises of nature (or, by default, the city) and the basic elements that

music (the wood and metal with which instruments are built).

A bit like the so-called

that disk designed to explain and summarize what Earth is to extraterrestrial civilizations.

«There was a compendium of sounds from the planet: thunder, the sea, birds ... And 90 minutes of music that begins with Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.

And I asked myself: 'To tell the Earth to an alien, what defines us the most is Beethoven?' ”Explains the director and screenwriter

That's where the

narrative was born

.

Beethoven is joined by

and

Mambo

from

If that first symphonic experiment in VR was rehearsed in Los Angeles,

will reach the entire Iberian geography in an ambitious 10-year tour.

It starts in Barcelona - it will remain until October 8 at CosmoCaixa - to continue touring in Santander (October-November), Valladolid (November-December) and Madrid (December-January).

So until reaching a hundred cities in Spain and Portugal.

The Fundación la Caixa

Although it is a great technological project, Symphony "has

considers Cortadellas, who has worked with the Visualise studio to create the universe in 360 degrees.

Because now we can go inside the music box.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

• Santander

• Valladolid

• Barcelona

• Colombia

• Spain

• Madrid

• POT

• Portugal

LaLiga Santander 2020 - 2021No money, no friendlies and in a bubble: the strangest preseason of the great teams

SecurityRadiography of squatting in Madrid: almost four usurpations a day and 15%, violent assaults

Basque Country The Basque Public University rises and is placed among the 400 best in the world according to Sanghai

See links of interest

• Last News

• English translator

• TV programming

• Quixote

• Work calendar

• Daily horoscope

• Santander League Standings

• League schedule

• Movies TV

• Topics

• Brighton and Hove Albion - Chelsea

• 16th stage of the Tour de France, live: La Tour-du-Pin - Villard-de-Lans