Page 41 - FINAL_Aurora Orchestra_Inside Beethoven Coverage Book
P. 41
10 November 2021
Step inside a symphony at Printworks London
John Harte
Aurora's revolutionary - and revelatory - use of technology
Back in 2013, the then BBC Proms director Roger Wright approached me with an
idea to perform a site-specific piece by the composer Benedict Mason at the
following year’s festival. Entitled Meld, the piece was unlike anything we’d ever done
– a fabulously intricate journey involving over 100 players and singers performing
from all over the Royal Albert Hall in dozens of different configurations. You can still
see the recording here.
Initially we found it really difficult to come up with a repertoire pairing for Benedict’s
extraordinary piece. The Proms team were keen to have some recognisable ‘core'
music in the programme, but it seemed to us a shame to do something conventional
alongside something so unusual. In the end we hit on the idea of presenting a well-
known work in a completely different way – adopting the same memorised approach
which Meld demanded for a performance of Mozart’s 40th symphony.
