Benedict Mason's Meld // Aurora Orchestra

How do you turn the Royal Albert Hall into an instrument? After three years of meticulous planning, Benedict Mason created MELD: a revolutionary piece of ‘sound theatre’ in which the Royal Albert Hall is as much a player and participant in the piece as the musicians themselves. Benedict Mason - MELD Aurora Orchestra Chantage Nicholas Collon - conductor Commissioned by the BBC Proms, MELD featured 144 musicians from Aurora Orchestra and Chantage choir roaming the halls, corridors and hidden spaces of the Royal Albert Hall, performing Mason’s meticulous score entirely from memory. The score coordinated music with the physical geography of the hall, including hundreds of choreography maps detailing exactly where any one of the musicians are at any one time. The concert film is based on an idea by Andreas Schimanski and Benedict Mason and was commissioned by The Space to bring the work to a wider audience. It uses multiple cameras positioned around the hall and roving cameras, some worn by the choir and orchestra. The end result provides the audience with a unique experience, giving a vivid sense of the movements and interactions of the musicians and singers with the space. Filmed live at the Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Proms on Saturday 16 August 2014. Film used by kind permission of The Space. To explore more Aurora Play broadcasts, visit . #AuroraPlay