A Little Light Music: The Lost Estate

An immersive music adventure

The Arensky Chamber Orchestra aims to reignite interest in classical music by using it to take audiences on a musical adventure. They asked us to help create an immersive musical experience, lighting the way for audiences to move through three acts and a three-floor performance space in “In Night’s Darkling Glory – Tristan and Isolde”.

Lighting the journey

Our lighting rig took the audience on an immersive journey from a ‘candlelit’ banquet hall, to a dock surrounded by converted paraffin hurricane lamps, and on to a forest bathed in darkness.

While the darkness may have kept audiences immersed in the music, it also meant the musicians couldn’t read their music – so we built them custom music stands that lit up when needed, and dimmed down the rest of the time.

The climax of the piece saw us using LEDs to bring the two huge trees on set to life, with lighting patterns moving higher and further to create the illusion of growth and bringing the experience to a beautiful, powerful conclusion.

Beautifully engaging

In Night’s Darkling Glory was a very ambitious project, but we were able to deliver innovative and creative lighting that brought the music to life, going far beyond what the ACO expected with the resources they had. Tristan and Isolde was a completely engaging musical event and the response from audience members was ecstatic.

Dan and Ben are extraordinary people to work with. They have the humility and care to listen utterly to the brief they are given, the artistry to understand exactly what is trying to be created, and the flair to take the ideas they are given and make them far greater than they were to begin with. Above and beyond that they happen to be a joy to work with on a personal level! I know that we won’t be looking outside of their services with our own work for the foreseeable future.

William Kunhardt, Artistic Director, Arensky Chamber Orchestra