Its a unique Swedish experiment in classical music. The video "Playing Apart" features 15 musicians from the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra that have been spread across the Sweden in five different locations to play Mozart"s famous chamber piece "Eine kleine Nachtmusik", live via Telia fiber connection. Full Press and Credits below, check out the entire concert at the very bottom.
On 29 April 2015, an expectant audience gathers at Gothenburg Concert Hall. Fourteen musicians wait at five locations all around Sweden. Their task: to play live together over the Telia fibre network and give the audience a musical experience quite unlike anything they have ever experienced before. The film "Playing Apart" presents us with a unique experiment and a partnership between Telia and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.
Orchestral music operates with margins of hundredths of a second. To perform a concert online with members of the orchestra in a variety of locations, the transmission of sound is absolutely crucial. The slightest delay risks destroying the experience for the listener. This was one of the challenges faced by the Playing Apart project. Another was the fact that the sound had to be of DVD quality, with HD quality images in order to provide the audience with a realistic concert experience.
Telia took the initiative to implement this unique experiment. The intention was to demonstrate that it is possible to work remotely with the right tools and a fast connection.
“Digitisation is key to the strength of Swedish companies in the face of competition. This is why we are investing billions in the expansion of both fixed and mobile networks – primarily 4G and fibre – all over the country over a number of years,” says Malin Frenning, CEO of Telia in Sweden, a company that provides network access and telecommunication services to help people and companies communicate in an easy, efficient and environmentally friendly way.
600 kilometres away
The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra does not normally spread its musicians all over the country. But when Telia asked whether they wanted to be involved, they agreed, even though this was something completely new to the orchestra. According to Karolina Hülphers, project manager at Telia, they thought the project sounded exciting.
“At the same time, we knew that putting the musicians in different places where they would not be able to see one another and asking them to perform the music with the same precision as if they had been sitting in a concert hall was a major challenge. As far as we know, this had never been done before.”
The members of the orchestra were then sent to five different places in Sweden: Åreskutan in Jämtland, Slottsskogen in Skåne and Smögen in Bohuslän were a few of them. Everyone involved was aware that everything had to work perfectly to produce a good enough result for a classical concert.
“The musicians had to be able to hear the sound with absolutely no delay – easier said than done when they are more than 600 kilometres apart. And the quality of the audio and visuals had to be high enough to present the audience at Gothenburg Concert Hall with a realistic musical experience. These were two major challenges, and Telia did an absolutely fantastic job,” said a very pleased Jörgen Odh of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.
Creative Credits:
Client: TELIA
Project Marketing Manager: Karolina Hülphers
VP and Head of Brand and Marketing: Thomas Sparrmo
Marketing Director SME/SoHo: Carl Norinder
Agency: Ehrenstråhle DDB
Art Director: Andreas Köster
Copywriter: Per Westin
Business Director: Hugo Mann & Anna Lennström
Account Manager: Camilla Westphal
Agency Producer: Mattias Coldén
Planner: Mats Brun
Production Company: Acne Production
Director: Anders Jedenfors
Exec Producer: Petur Morgensen
Producer: Kristofer Larsson
DOP: Anders Jedenfors
Offline editor: Henning Mark
Post production & sound design: Chimney
VIA «Playing Apart – a fascinating concert over theTELIA fibre network» by Jane Storm