Page 36 - Guildhall Coverage Book 2020-21
P. 36
30 September 2020
Our orchestras' only hope: how technology can
fuse our splintered musicians together again
Orchestras are symbiotic by nature – social distancing would alter their very core. But, finds Izzie
Price, technology may well save the day
By Izzie Price 30 September 2020 • 12:03pm
Never to be the same again? BBC Proms 2019 CREDIT: BBC/Mark Allan
“After two minutes of sound checking, the orchestra began to play. Eighty people with common
purpose, creating art despite all the obstacles. Our building was alive again.”
This is how Julian Hepple, Head of Recording & Audio Visual at Guildhall School of Music and
Drama, describes the power of the school’s low latency system: a technological feat that allows
orchestras to play together as one, and a much-needed resource after COVID-19 plunged said
orchestras into silence.
“I was on the Rob Brydon UK tour when [lockdown] happened...I’ll never forget [the] moment we
went home during the sound check in Guildford,” says freelance cellist Gabriella Swallow.
“Overnight, a year’s worth of work evaporated.”
