Sea change for orchestral music
Queensland orchestra deep blue is changing the way music is presented to the world.
deep blue looks like an orchestra, acts like a band and feels like a movie. An orchestra with attitude, deep blue are the mavericks of orchestral music with a cheekiness that’s infectious.
The brainchild Darren Clark of Creative Media Warehouse and Andy Arthurs of the Queensland University of Technology, the orchestra takes audiences on a theatrical, audio-visual rollercoaster ride.
‘We wanted to create an orchestral experience for the 21st century, one that was still founded in excellent music, but moving away from the traditional set up. And we wanted to attract new audiences, as well as be innovative and commercially sustainable,’ Mr Clark said.
So they threw away the music stands, retired the conductor, sourced composers and musicians from all backgrounds and countries and added a generous splash of multi-media, theatrical elements and some choreography to the mix.
The result is a sell-out orchestra charged with emotion and accessible to a broader range of people than ever before.
With 100 shows pencilled in for 2009 and requests coming from Europe, the USA and Asia, deep blue is looking at duplicating its existing ensemble so there will be multiple teams of performers to cater to this increased demand.
While it is an orchestra, deep blue also has an interactive approach to how it does business.
Key elements of the business model include giving audiences what they want and keeping costs down.
‘Ours is a totally audience-focused model. We communicate constantly with our fan-base through surveys, questionnaires, virtual communities, our website, and even during the shows with SMS text messaging,’ Mr Clark said.
‘Patrons can SMS during the shows to give us instant feedback on what’s working for them and what’s not. We can even change what we play at the end of the show according to the text messages. Audiences love that idea!’
The creative team at deep blue set out to create a brand new orchestral experience and the popularity of their creation has exceeded even the team’s wildest expectations. Mr Clark attributes this to innovative design, from the business model to the ‘product’.
‘We run a creative team and a business team, but 90 per cent of the time they work together. We’ve succeeded in integrating creativity and design truly across the whole business. The result is fun, emotionally powerful and exciting performances and audiences are loving it!’ Mr Clark said.
www.deepblueorchestra.com (non-government site)
Story: Sue Wighton.
Last reviewed 15 December 2008
