Turntable Symphonograph Orchestra, Abu Dhabi

The "Turntable Symphonograph Orchestra" was the main attraction in a showcase project staged at the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the art gallery in the United Arab Emirates. This unique orchestra comprises Japan's 20 best DJs and DMC championship winners. It is regarded as the first musical ensemble to use turntables and mixers as "instruments" to reinterpret classical music – for example pieces by Nathan Milstein and parts of Mendelssohn's violin concerto in E minor. For us, this constellation represented a real logistical challenge: namely providing the DJ equipment consisting of mixers and turntables for the 20 performers on one shared staged.

For the lighting design, we installed a ground-supported truss construction behind the stage in the Louvre to give us maximum coverage with the lighting effects using 40 Martin Mac Aura and Mac Viper luminaires. We also erected four truss towers inside the venue to ensure a perfect audio experience.

We added light boxes to the background design around the stage. This allowed us to integrate various shapes and colours into the lighting design, thereby creating a further artistic and, at the same time, modern effect, which further underlined the unique architecture of the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

In the audience area itself, we created a perfect club atmosphere with a soft sound and plenty of depth in the best possible acoustic quality. The result proved that d&b audiotechnik's Y-Series line array system was exactly the right choice for the mixture of classical orchestra and modern music.