TENORI-ON Orchestra

TEN, TENORI-ON!

The BT Visit London Awards 2009 opened this year at The Westfield Centre, London to the sound of a very unique 10 piece Tenori-On Orchestra.

The event, to celebrate and award the best of the tourism industry in London, was opened in style. A lone string quartet began playing Beethoven’s 5th against a back drop of images of London, as the tension and atmosphere of the piece built up, a 10 strong Tenori-On orchestra took over bringing a fresh electronic twist to a well know piece of music.

Ten TNR-W Tenori-Ons appeared from above as they each glided down the escalator on to the stage where they captivated the audience with their electronic beats and flashing lights.

The Tenori-Ons were programmed by acclaimed Sound Designer and Yamaha artist Marc01. From its simple classical beginnings to evolving into a futuristic ending, the unique Tenori-On Orchestra was a fantastic spectacle and memorable sonic and visual opening to the show.

We asked Marc01 about his experiences in making this arrangement along with how the production was put together....

"Taking on such a monumental piece of music (Beethovan’s 5th), and adapting it for the Tenori-On was definitely an exciting and challenging project. The Tenori-On is very a very inspirational tool - having the ability to program it in a very melodic way, and to suddenly switch to the more experimental layers such as Bounce and Random opened up a world of possibilities. As a result I was never stuck for generating ideas.

There are some beautiful sounds in there that really come to life when manipulated in real time. Having the luxury to use 10 Tenori-Ons meant that I could really experiment with multiple layers, effects and processing to take the Tenori-On way beyond peoples expectations of what it can do."

For more information about the Tenori-On visit http://www.tenori-on.co.uk