104 Concert Halls: Ravel's Boléro (from home) by the University of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra

Having more than 100 Melbourne Conservatorium musicians perform and record Maurice Ravel’s 1928 masterpiece Boléro from their homes in the age of COVID-19 social distancing was always going to present a challenge. And yet that’s exactly what University of Melbourne conductor Richard Davis, Associate Professor at the Melbourne Conservatorium, chose to do.

In April, he sent each member of the University of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra detailed information on what he expected of them, in a document titled Program Boléro (Covid-19 Arrangement). Rather than playing together, they recorded their individual parts on smartphones and computers to a rhythm track, with those parts then mixed by Davis's long-term sound-recording colleague Haig Burnell, who Davis describes as a “recording and ‘tonmeister’ genius”.

In the words of percussionist Yiang Shan Sng, who has been performing with the University of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra since March last year: “I hope our virtual performance of Boléro can give everyone some comfort and strength in these difficult times and show our collective appreciation to all the essential workers all around the world.”

The University of Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is proudly supported by the Sidney Myer Melbourne Symphony Orchestra Trust.

Read the full story here: https://finearts-music.unimelb.edu.au...