Lyndsey Winship says “there is no dozing off, zoning out or mentally writing your shopping list” in multi-sensory immersive concerts.
What does Debussy smell like? It might not be something you've had cause to wonder, but it was the burning question when I took my seat to hear the composer's String Quartet in G minor on Saturday. On my seat was a small black box that said "Open Me", and inside the lid another message: "Smell Me". Just sitting and listening to music is so 2013. This was to be a completely multi-sensory experience.
We've had immersive theatre, now here's the immersive concert experience, the latest attempt to stir concert-goers out of their stupor and reignite classical music for new audiences. BitterSuite is a project run by 24-year-old producer Stephanie Singer, and it's inspired by synaesthesia, the neurological condition that leads to a confusion of the senses. This is a concert where you don't just listen to the music – you taste it, smell it and feel it as well.
In a pilot performance at the Rich Mix arts centre in east London, while the Phaedrus Ensemble got stuck in to Debussy, the audience were blindfolded and fed different sensory experiences in parallel with the music: fizzy pop and cola bottles for the effervescent second movement and fingers scampering up your arms in tandem with the first violin, then as the music changed, a scent-soaked silk scarf flickering across your skin, and hands laid on to give a sensation of pressure or relaxation.
What does Debussy smell like? It might not be something you've had cause to wonder, but it was the burning question when I took my seat to hear the composer's String Quartet in G minor on Saturday. On my seat was a small black box that said "Open Me", and inside the lid another message: "Smell Me". Just sitting and listening to music is so 2013. This was to be a completely multi-sensory experience.
We've had immersive theatre, now here's the immersive concert experience, the latest attempt to stir concert-goers out of their stupor and reignite classical music for new audiences. BitterSuite is a project run by 24-year-old producer Stephanie Singer, and it's inspired by synaesthesia, the neurological condition that leads to a confusion of the senses. This is a concert where you don't just listen to the music – you taste it, smell it and feel it as well.
In a pilot performance at the Rich Mix arts centre in east London, while the Phaedrus Ensemble got stuck in to Debussy, the audience were blindfolded and fed different sensory experiences in parallel with the music: fizzy pop and cola bottles for the effervescent second movement and fingers scampering up your arms in tandem with the first violin, then as the music changed, a scent-soaked silk scarf flickering across your skin, and hands laid on to give a sensation of pressure or relaxation.