Concert in the Dark: A Sound Experience

What happens when you immerse the Orchestra in the dark and travel back to the 1960s with Kent Nagano at the baton?

Aficionados of psychedelic rock and roll, Bach, Strauss – and sometimes all three – discovered the joy of listening to their records of choice at high volume with the lights turned out, the absence of visual stimulus allowing for a full and luxurious immersion in the experience. In our image-obsessed culture, we may have lost some of our former wonderment at the richness and fullness of sound minus visual distraction. The concert takes its cue from mid-century hi-fi lights-out listening parties and the music that inspired them, from J. S. Bach’s magnificent Toccata in D minor to Strauss, Stockhausen and Ligeti. Jimi Hendrix’ Purple Haze is reimagined for string orchestra, and The Electric Candlelight Concerto for electric guitar and orchestra, by John Anthony Lennon, receives its world premiere.