"Symphony" Becomes Permanent Exhibition at CaixaForum Barcelona

**Immersive Symphony Experience at CaixaForum**

*Symphony poster, courtesy of the la Caixa Foundation and Igor Studios.*

On April 10, 2021, Symphony: a journey into the heart of music will open as a permanent exhibition at “la Caixa” Foundation’s cultural centre, CaixaForum Barcelona.

Symphony: a journey into the heart of music, is a virtual orchestral experience that features young artists from the Dudamel Foundation, and Gustavo Dudamel leading the Mahler Chamber Symphony. This new virtual encounter was developed by the “la Caixa” Foundation in collaboration with Artistic Director Igor Cortadellas, and Gustavo, side-by-side with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, to bring a virtual symphonic experience to hundreds of rural towns and communities throughout Spain and Portugal during a ten-year international tour.

The tour premiered in Barcelona on September 15, 2020, and to date has visited six cities — Barcelona, Santander, Valladolid, Madrid, Granada, and Malaga — with the next stop in Toledo on May 13, 2021.

Following this continued success of the tour, visitors to Barcelona will now be able to permanently experience the immersive and groundbreaking virtual reality Symphony experience at CaixaForum Barcelona. The new spaces at CaxiaForum are fitted with the most advanced technology to ensure visitors have the highest quality visual and acoustic experience.

Symphony takes place in two spaces, each covering one hundred square meters. The first space will screen a panoramic film (projection) that invites the audience on a soundscape journey to celebrate the beauty of everyday sound. In the second space, the audience will put on special VR glasses and find themselves seated in Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu. From the stage, Gustavo welcomes the spectators who are then surrounded by a full symphony orchestra, in absolute silence, awaiting the downbeat of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5.

What follows is a heightened emotional listening experience through the aid of advanced science and VR technology. By moving the camera 360º within the orchestra, each spectator hears and feels music in new and surprising ways. As the musicians play, images and sounds deconstruct the orchestra to offer insight into how, from the simplicity of a piece of wood or metal, a universe as sophisticated and beautiful as that of a symphony orchestra can be created.

For more information and to reserve tickets, visit https://caixaforum.org/es/barcelona/symphony.

Accessibility and COVID-19 Safety

Symphony: a journey into the heart of music is an educational, cultural, and recreational project aimed at all audiences over the age of eight. It does not involve physical movement by audience members, but due to the nature of the VR technology, it is not recommended for people with epilepsy, vertigo, or who are prone to dizziness. The duration of the experience is 45 minutes and is for ages 8 years and older.

Appropriate health measures, specifically focused around COVID-19, are being taken to make this experience safe. Cleaning has been intensified, and a photocatalytic disinfection (UV) system has been installed in both units to free the space of contaminants and pathogens in ambient air and on all the surfaces of treated spaces. The installation will begin operating with 18 seats of the 36 total available and sessions will be spaced throughout the day.