Challenges of hosting Lord of the Rings movie concert in Singapore

Global effort behind “The Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring” movie concert in Singapore (6-8 June, 2013) overcomes the technical challenges of 250-musician performance-cum-movie screening.

"The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring" movie concert at The Star Performing Arts Centre from 6 - 8 June 2013, 7.30pm. Tickets from SISTIC: $228 (VIP), $188, $128, $98, $58

“The Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring” movie concert at The Star Performing Arts Centre from 6 – 8 June 2013, 7.30pm. Tickets from SISTIC: $228 (VIP), $188, $128, $98, $58

The Metropolitan Festival Orchestra (MFO), the organiser for the movie concert, has announced that it is on track to hold the largest-ever performance at The Star Performing Arts Centre (The Star PAC) from June 6 to 8.

“Working with Columbia Artists Management Inc (CAMI) and Howard Shore to fashion the look and feel of the material, and maintain it in the varied venues and locales where we bring the show has been a fulfilling challenge,” saysJeffrey Markowitz, General Manager for The Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring production. He is responsible for making sure that the show runs smoothly wherever it travels.

The orchestra has been planning for over a year to bring the movie concert event of the year to South East Asia and Singapore, coordinating between New York and London to pull the event together.

The MFO chose The Star PAC as the venue for this concert because the theater has the appropriate stage to accommodate 250 musicians and the large cinematic screen.

The huge 18 x 7.5m screen was flown in specially from New York.

As the movie comes in a very specific format, special playback equipment also had to be brought in from London.

The MFO is also bringing in additional equipment into The Star Theatre for this mega production.

“We’re extremely proud to be able to present an international production like The Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring as part of our inaugural season,” said Low Jia Hua, MFO’s General Manager. “And it is thanks to the dedication and expertise of the entire technical and production team from CAMI, the MFO team and the staff of The Star PAC that we’re able to bring this incredible production to our audiences.”

These include musicians’ chairs, music stands and music-stand lights to complement the existing equipment available at The Star, as well as a custom-built platform for the 150 singers of the International Festival Chorus and The Young Voices of Vocal Associates.

The unique combination of a movie playing along with a full orchestra and live chorus also presents additional challenges that need to be overcome.

Conductor Justin Freer has to work closely with the technical team to achieve the most optimum balance between the live performance and audio from the movie.

To ensure that the music is absolutely synchronised with the movie, the conductor also has a special screen in front of him that displays additional cues overlaid on top of the film.

Patrons attending this event will also get to hear locally-based professional musicians performing on musical instruments that are not found in a traditional Western orchestra.

The accordion, yangqin (扬琴, the Chinese hammered dulcimer), guitar, mandolin and a modified upright piano will be used in the performances, as featured in Howard Shore’s original orchestration of the soundtrack score.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, May 25th, 2013 at 8:00 am and is filed under Announce, Audio, Performance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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