LA Phil creates a new music experience


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On Friday, the Los Angeles Philharmonic unveiled VAN Beethoven, a new virtual reality experience that allows its patrons to immerse themselves within the sounds of the L.A. Phil Set up in a trailer van, the VAN Beethoven experience uses new Oculus technology that surrounds its viewers in 360-degree virtual reality in which Gustavo Dudamel, musical and artistic director for the L.A. Phil, conducts the beginning fragments from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5. The entire experience lasts about four minutes.

The VAN Beethoven mobile experience is an undertaking to promote the L.A. Phil’s Immortal Beethoven Festival, in which Dudamel conducts all nine of Beethoven’s symphonies in sequence over the course of two weeks. All performances will take place at the Walt Disney Concert Hall from Oct. 1-13.

Shana Mathur, vice president of marketing and communications for the L.A. Phil, said plans for the project began last year.

“L.A. Phil created the idea,” Mathur said. “Initial planning began about a year ago, but most of the preparation happened within the last six months.”

The process of creating a musical virtual reality is new to Amy Seidenwurm, the L.A. Phil director of digital initiatives for the group, transformed the idea into a reality.

“We’re treating this very much like an experiment,” Seidenwurm said. “The overall reception [of VAN Beethoven] will determine if we decide to plan something similar in the future.”

With a total of five cameras, the filming process took a little over an hour, according to Seidenwurm. The orchestra performed all the music live, with each camera angle shot individually to avoid the clutter of equipment across the stage.

“We had to do each shot separately,” Seidenwurm said. “If we didn’t, because [the experience] is 360 degrees, it would look like a production set and not like a concert.”

Seidenwurm also emphasized that the experience would be enjoyable for everyone, even those not well-versed in classical music.

“In a lot of ways, this is meant to be an introduction to classical music for people who maybe don’t know or are intimidated [by classical music].”

VAN Beethoven will be touring the Los Angeles area from Sept. 11 through Oct. 18. A complete list of locations can be found online.