Sunday, February 08, 2004
Is It Live or Is It a Sinfonia?
Jeff Lazarus is chief executive of Realtime Music Solutions, which created the Sinfonia. (Justin Lane/Chicago Tribune)
By Vince Horiuchi
The Salt Lake Tribune
Broadway producers like the "virtual orchestra" because it sounds real and cuts costs. But musicians say that reality is actually costly: It steals jobs and cheats audiences.
The virtual orchestra is an electronic device that looks like a synthesizer but is much more: two high-powered computers and a bevy of other electronics that make a 12-musician ensemble sound like a full orchestra. Broadway producers have threatened to use the virtual orchestra to help control rising production costs.
A Sinfonia, one brand of virtual orchestra, will be used in the touring production of "Miss Saigon," visiting the Capitol Theater next week. Earlier this year, it was used for the national tour of "Music Man," also at the Capitol.
Joe Hatch, attorney for the American Federation of Musicians Local 104, says machines like the Sinfonia deny musicians jobs and cheat the audience out of a true Broadway experience. He won't be seeing "Miss Saigon."
"If you are going to advertise it as a Broadway show, then you should have the minimum standards of a Broadway show, which includes an orchestra pit," said Hatch, whose union represents 250 Utah musicians. " 'Miss Saigon' is a fraud. It's not a real Broadway road show. It's more community theater."
The Sinfonia, which produces digital samples of real instruments, was developed by two music-technology professors from New York and Massachusetts.
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One computer (the other is a backup) controls the digital samples, while a sinfonist, or operator, sits in front of a MIDI keyboard to control the flow of music by watching a video screen of the conductor.
The number of instruments it can reproduce is unlimited.
"Really, you are only limited by the [computer] memory," said Jeff Lazarus, chief executive of New York-based Realtime Music Solutions, which created the Sinfonia. "It could be infinite."
In the case of "Miss Saigon," a core of 12 musicians will play the score, but the Sinfonia will make it sound like an orchestra of 28, said Louis B. Crocco, sinfonist for the production.
"[Producers] just want the best-sounding orchestra they can have. And this is the best solution. This gives them more bang for the buck," he said. "We always have people coming down to the orchestra pit saying, 'Oh my, you sound like 30.' They can't believe the sound we put out."
Traditionally, touring musical productions come with a base orchestra; local musicians sometimes are hired to supplement it. The local AFM union believes machines like the Sinfonia will kill opportunities for those local musicians.
"Virtual orchestras" were one reason for last month's Broadway strike, in which the musicians' union argued such machines eventually would replace live pit orchestras. As a compromise, Broadway producers and the union negotiated a minimum requirement of 19 to 26 musicians per production, depending on the size of the theater.
But on non-Equity touring productions like "Miss Saigon," there are no contract rules. The Sinfonia has been used on tours like "Porgy and Bess," "Cinderella" and "The Phantom of the Opera."
"Every time they use the machine, it denies somebody a job," said Erich Graf, president of Local 104 and principal flutist for the Utah Symphony.
But the Sinfonia is not like the mechanical arm that replaced workers on the auto line, say Lazarus and Crocco. If the machine did not exist, "Miss Saigon" producers would use only the 12 core musicans with the tour.
"People have said that if Sinfonia was not with the tour, [the play] would go out with a higher number of musicians, and that is just not true," said Lazarus. "The reality of this kind of tour has been established and in place for a long time. Now they have chosen to add something to make it better."
For regular theatergoers like Ken Bullock, theater is exhilarating because it is live.
"[Musicans] are part of the peformance," he said. "You want a live performance. If I didn't want that, I could stay home and listen to a CD."
By Vince Horiuchi
The Salt Lake Tribune
Broadway producers like the "virtual orchestra" because it sounds real and cuts costs. But musicians say that reality is actually costly: It steals jobs and cheats audiences.
The virtual orchestra is an electronic device that looks like a synthesizer but is much more: two high-powered computers and a bevy of other electronics that make a 12-musician ensemble sound like a full orchestra. Broadway producers have threatened to use the virtual orchestra to help control rising production costs.
A Sinfonia, one brand of virtual orchestra, will be used in the touring production of "Miss Saigon," visiting the Capitol Theater next week. Earlier this year, it was used for the national tour of "Music Man," also at the Capitol.
Joe Hatch, attorney for the American Federation of Musicians Local 104, says machines like the Sinfonia deny musicians jobs and cheat the audience out of a true Broadway experience. He won't be seeing "Miss Saigon."
"If you are going to advertise it as a Broadway show, then you should have the minimum standards of a Broadway show, which includes an orchestra pit," said Hatch, whose union represents 250 Utah musicians. " 'Miss Saigon' is a fraud. It's not a real Broadway road show. It's more community theater."
The Sinfonia, which produces digital samples of real instruments, was developed by two music-technology professors from New York and Massachusetts.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Advertisement
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
One computer (the other is a backup) controls the digital samples, while a sinfonist, or operator, sits in front of a MIDI keyboard to control the flow of music by watching a video screen of the conductor.
The number of instruments it can reproduce is unlimited.
"Really, you are only limited by the [computer] memory," said Jeff Lazarus, chief executive of New York-based Realtime Music Solutions, which created the Sinfonia. "It could be infinite."
In the case of "Miss Saigon," a core of 12 musicians will play the score, but the Sinfonia will make it sound like an orchestra of 28, said Louis B. Crocco, sinfonist for the production.
"[Producers] just want the best-sounding orchestra they can have. And this is the best solution. This gives them more bang for the buck," he said. "We always have people coming down to the orchestra pit saying, 'Oh my, you sound like 30.' They can't believe the sound we put out."
Traditionally, touring musical productions come with a base orchestra; local musicians sometimes are hired to supplement it. The local AFM union believes machines like the Sinfonia will kill opportunities for those local musicians.
"Virtual orchestras" were one reason for last month's Broadway strike, in which the musicians' union argued such machines eventually would replace live pit orchestras. As a compromise, Broadway producers and the union negotiated a minimum requirement of 19 to 26 musicians per production, depending on the size of the theater.
But on non-Equity touring productions like "Miss Saigon," there are no contract rules. The Sinfonia has been used on tours like "Porgy and Bess," "Cinderella" and "The Phantom of the Opera."
"Every time they use the machine, it denies somebody a job," said Erich Graf, president of Local 104 and principal flutist for the Utah Symphony.
But the Sinfonia is not like the mechanical arm that replaced workers on the auto line, say Lazarus and Crocco. If the machine did not exist, "Miss Saigon" producers would use only the 12 core musicans with the tour.
"People have said that if Sinfonia was not with the tour, [the play] would go out with a higher number of musicians, and that is just not true," said Lazarus. "The reality of this kind of tour has been established and in place for a long time. Now they have chosen to add something to make it better."
For regular theatergoers like Ken Bullock, theater is exhilarating because it is live.
"[Musicans] are part of the peformance," he said. "You want a live performance. If I didn't want that, I could stay home and listen to a CD."
