Beethoven’s Seventh, played from the middle of the orchestra with an instrument that has never been held before.
If you want to make a theatre work, a traditional one where there is no interaction between performers and audiences, as audiences are just passively receiving information from theatremakers, Fringe might be the last place you want to go to. Even storytelling and musicals try to include some form of interaction across the theatre space, let alone stand-up and more experimental theatre groups. Concerts of the Future, the VR experience by House of Oz, The Sonicrats and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, invited us, the audience, even with zero musical knowledge, to be a part of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.
After meeting at Summerhall, we were greeted by a researcher in a white coat, who gave us a tablet to key in the music we wanted to keep in a jar and the style of music we preferred. Soon after, we were given an instrument. Mine was a hollow sphere with a structure that felt both geometric and spontaneous, called Rumbleth, while the lady at my session had something like a sonic screwdriver in the shape of a spaceship from Star Trek. We were told that the instrument would make sounds according to our answers. Mine was inspired by the sound of sex, the human voice of desire and primitive impulses that were sometimes controllable and sometimes completely beyond control. It felt like an uncanny sound that, if Julia Ducournau’s Titane were a sound, would sound like this. I waved it around the room while the lady at my session experimented with hers.
Then we were led to another room, where we were each given a VR headset and could move and wave our own instruments around to play Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. The VR experience was filmed in 360 degrees, with real footage of the orchestra and the audience rather than computer-generated images. Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 is famous for its dance-like rhythms, famously described by Wagner as “the apotheosis of the dance”. In the VR experience, it was actually amazing to feel as if we were sitting at the centre of the symphony orchestra, facing a full house of audience members. As we moved our heads, we could look around the whole space and see the musicians around us, while the conductor stood in front of us. We were no longer the audience watching a performance from the outside. Instead, we found ourselves inside the orchestra, surrounded by the musicians and facing the audience, which created an unexpected sense of intimacy.
Classical music can sometimes be considered to have a very high barrier to entry, yet Concerts of the Future unleashed our ability to play along with it and have fun with the classics. That sense of creation is what makes the experience unique: we are not just appreciating the musicians’ talents, but creating something new with them. Although sometimes it can be hard to hear our own contribution against a whole orchestra, that sense of smallness might also reflect the true feeling of being part of an orchestra.
Show listing:
Venue: Summerhall
Date: 7–31 August 2026
Times: Rolling sessions, 2pm–7pm
Duration: 20 minutes
Price: 11.5/concession: 9.5
Age suitability: 12 + (Guideline)
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/concerts-of-the-future