Philharmonia Fantastique: The Making Of The Orchestra Will Be Released in May

The magical intersection between music and technology has been a central tenet of composer Mason Bates' career: from his Grammy-winning opera The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs to his work as a DJ and curator for series including San Francisco's Mercury Soul, and KC Jukebox at the Kennedy Center. Philharmonia Fantastique: The Making of the Orchestra is no exception. Bates' most ambitious project to date comes to life this Spring with performances by Chicago Symphony Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra, positioning the modern orchestra as the perfect synthesis of art and technology. The soundtrack is available on Sony Classical and performances worldwide follow.

Co-commissioned by six of America's top orchestras - Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and American Youth Symphony - Philharmonia Fantastique is a 25-minute concerto for orchestra and film that combines live-action and animation, taking audiences directly inside the instruments of the orchestra to see how they work.

"Creating a new 'guide to the orchestra' was an incredibly inspiring and challenging project," says Mason Bates. "How can we showcase the magical wonders of the orchestra in a fresh way? For me, the way was the concept of 'how they work:' how brass valves slice air, how strings resonate when creating harmonics, how woodwinds make music with clicking keys".

Live performances with orchestra & film include the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and National Symphony Orchestra mid-May 2022. Performances by the San Francisco Symphony follow in August with San Diego Symphony and Louisville Orchestra this Fall. Nashville Symphony, Kansas City Symphony and Utah Symphony have Philharmonia Fantastique in concert early 2023 with multiple performances internationally thereafter.

For this massive undertaking, Bates enlisted seven-time Academy Award-winning sound designer Gary Rydstrom (Titanic) of LucasFilm and Skywalker Sound to serve as director for the film. Rydstrom in turn brought on animator and Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Jim Capobianco (Mary Poppins: The Return).

Nearly a year's worth of character design resulted in the creation of the protagonist, Sprite, an animated, mercurial, magical figure who serves as the audience's guide through the orchestra and even inside the instruments themselves. The Sprite interacts with the conductor and on-stage musicians alike, connecting stage and screen.

"Music itself has always been a marriage of technology and art," says Rydstrom. "In Philharmonia Fantastique we use both new and old technologies to explore how music comes together, how radically different sounds and techniques converge into the full sound of an orchestra."

The piece portrays the four families of the orchestra as distinct entities, each with their own unique sound worlds and musical motifs: the slinky, sophisticated noir-jazz of the woodwinds; the lush romanticism of the strings; the aggressive techno-fanfares of the brass; and the percussion section "drum circle" in all its versatility. Ultimately the work's message is one of unity: the diverse instruments of the orchestra are most powerful when working together as one giant instrument.

"When an orchestra plays, the integration of so much engineering into one giant instrument is a real model of 'unity from diversity.' All these different materials and technologies - and people - syncing together to make beautiful music is a real model for how we should all behave as people." Mason Bates

"The Sprite has to figure out a way to bring the families together, and the way they do that is to learn to play each other's themes. That became a key inspiration for us as the piece unfolded." Mason Bates

Nearly every aspect of the production mirrors the central thesis that the orchestra is the ideal marriage of tradition and innovation. The title itself is a nod to Hector Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique (a striking dramatic storm with innovations in orchestration), but the music of Philharmonia Fantastique ventures beyond the bounds of classical to bring in elements of jazz and techno. The film merges hand-drawn animation techniques that go back 100 years with live-action macro-photography of actual instrumentalists. The combination of music and animation hearkens back to classics like Fantasia or Peter and the Wolf, while still taking audiences on a new journey led by the Sprite.

"The project will have a certain immediacy since each performance of the music will be a one-of-a-kind experience," says Capobianco. "Working in animation we never get that kind of event; everything is so planned. Philharmonia Fantastique ultimately feels timeless: nostalgic but also completely fresh and new."

Extensive tools and materials for educators, orchestral/festival education departments, parents and carers have been created by specialists, the Edie Demas Group. Areas supported include STEM, visual storytelling, accessibility, social and emotional learning. Phase one of PhilharmoniaFantastique.com will be launched in May 2022 with an introduction to the orchestra and hands-on activities for children in English and Spanish. Phase two, centered around an interactive mixing-desk, will roll-out later in 2022.

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