What is FLECTION?

So, FLECTION.  Describing a live concert experience is somewhat akin to taking notes on a glorious sunset, but - despite the obvious limitations - I will give it a go.  It's really important to me that concert-goers have all the information they need well in advance of the concert itself.  There's so much to say that I'll limit myself to contextualizing FLECTION within Sympho's concert output in this entry, saving more of the nitty-gritty for later posts.

Sympho has always been about redefining what it means to experience an orchestral concert, both on the side of the audience and of the musicians.  The only way to do that in a meaningful way is to experiment – with different ideas, concepts, and delivery systems – after which you keep what works and jettison that which doesn’t.

We turned the whole idea of an orchestral concert on its ear with REWIND and TRACES.  They were both 90-minute continuous concerts, with no breaks at all.  The music began before the audience entered the hall, and it was still playing when the audience left.  Composers linked pre-existing pieces with newly-commissioned connective material, and the effect was that of an unbroken arch of music – one large piece of music that developed throughout the course of an evening, instead of a smattering of pieces interrupted by applause and uncomfortable silences.  To this musical foundation we added other disciplines from the theater, such as lighting and staging, and we collaborated with talented installation artists.

As successful as these concerts were, Sympho decided to chart a new course for our next concert.  After all, just because our new concept worked didn’t mean it was the only way to recreate the classical concert experience.  So we came up with FLECTION, which is Sympho’s way of addressing many of the issues and concerns that came up in our earlier concerts.  FLECTION will have an intermission, giving people a chance to think about what they’ve just heard.  The audience will hear the same music twice in the same concert, but it will be reorganized in such a way as to affect the listener in vastly different ways.   The concert takes place in a real live club.  With a bar.  In fact, Le poisson rouge is a perfect vehicle to allow Sympho to continue its drive to push performers and audience members into the same space, tearing down the wall that has divided them through centuries.  The venue is very intimate, and as a result it forces players and listeners to occupy the same ground, to great effect.

Of course there are aspects of REWIND and TRACES that fans will recognize in FLECTION: the subtle use of stage lighting, the positioning of players throughout the performance space to create a “surround” effect, and – most importantly – the sense of adventure, of being present at an event where you look forward to the next surprise.