Outfitted with carpet and seating styled from Walt Disney Concert Hall, a truck called VAN Beethoven (get it?) will travel around Los Angeles though Oct. 18, offering free viewings of the iconic opening three minutes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. It made its first stop Friday.
Call it a new kind of "Fantasia."
"VAN Beethoven underscores the LA Phil's dedication to expanding opportunities for access to the widest audience possible," President and CEO Deborah Borda said in a statement. "Thanks to the remarkable Oculus virtual reality technology, we can introduce the magnificence of an orchestral performance throughout communities in Los Angeles as never before."
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Using a headset, the viewer will get a 360-degree panorama of 34-year-old Music Director Gustavo Dudamel leading the orchestra playing at its home venue. The perspective shifts, sometimes zooming so close to a musician that the viewers feel they can touch the performer. Colorful images—blues, reds, yellows—swirl and shoot across the screen.