Thousands play along with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra forming The Global Orchestra, to play the “Concert for the Planet”
SYDNEY, Australia – Sunday, 29 March, 2015: Thousands of people across the world, including musicians at NASA, joined the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (SSO), and its Chief Conductor David Robertson, for last night’s Earth Hour in the inaugural Concert for the Planet presented by the Global Orchestra Foundation.
As the SSO performed Holst’s popular work The Planets at the Sydney Opera House at 8.30pm on 28 March, groups of musicians around the world came together to play along to a live web-stream of the concert, joining the SSO and the Global Orchestra Foundation in creating a soundtrack to Earth Hour.
See below for link to footage of the SSO’s performance, NASA and Santa Sabina College.
Thousands of people gathered with their instruments to play along or just to listen at hundreds of satellite events in Australia – held at music schools, community centres, parks, private homes and primary and high schools – to play along to the live web-stream of the concert. A separate stream of David Robertson conducting – the “Conductor Cam” – guided players through the bar numbers and assisted them in following the score.
The web-streams were hosted on youtube and www.globalorchestra.com, allowing virtually anyone in the world to be part of this “global orchestra”.
Mr Robertson said the initiative showed the SSO’s continued commitment to digital education, innovation and accessibility: “It’s so wonderful that, together with the Global Orchestra Foundation, we’ve been able to use digital technology to share our music with thousands of people around the world. We’d like to thank all the musicians who joined us from their homes, schools and community centres in performing Holst’s The Planets in this innovative project.”
The Global Orchestra Chair, Angela Catterns, said “The inaugural ‘Concert for the Planet’ was a blast. The concert was so exciting! The SSO was in great form and it was thrilling to realise that kids in primary schools, musicians in country Conservatoriums and musicians all over the world were actually playing along”.
The Global Orchestra Foundation was formed in 2013 by composer Charlie Chan, creative technologist Justin Baird and former SSO Principal Cellist Nathan Waks, with a mission to get together once a year to make music and demonstrate a commitment to a sustainable future for the planet.
Broadcast quality Video footage of the Concert for the Planet and satellite event sites including NASA and Santa Sabina College is available at:
Mediawall of videos and photos featuring Earth Hour events can be viewed at:
Photographs for media use can be downloaded at:
Click here to find a list of registered satellite events including NASA, Langley Research Centre.