Orchestra gives Cambridge shoppers a violins and VR experience

Shoppers at Lion Yard were able to witness the Philharmonia Orchestra up close and personal – and for free – through the medium of virtual reality (VR).

VR headsets and chairs were set up in Lion Yard, upstairs outside the library, last Saturday (November 30) as curious members of the public watched the London-based orchestra perform a concert at London’s Royal Festival Hall, in an ambisonic audio and 3D recording.

This was ahead of a sold-out performance by the Orchestra on Saturday evening at the Cambridge Corn Exchange, with Vladimir Ashkenazy conducting.

Ben Casement-Stoll, marketing and communications manager at Cambridge Live, said: “More than 100 people donned headsets and joined the orchestra on a virtual stage as it performed a brief excerpt from Dvorak’s Fifth Symphony.

“The VR experience was repeated that evening in the Corn Exchange lobby, prior to a sold-out performance of the Brahms Violin Concerto and Dvorak’s Ninth Symphony, led by renowned conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy.”