Aurora Borealis | Baczkowski | Manchester Contemporary Orchestra

Premiere performance of the wind orchestra version of The Experience of Jamie by Dan Baczkowski. Performed by the Manchester Contemporary Orchestra at RNCM, conducted by Julius Mauldin.
The performance explores how science may be incorporated into the live music concert to potentially enhance the experience for the audience and the performers. There is a growing field of music psychology research being conducted in the more ecologically valid live concert setting. However, in much previous research, there has been a disconnect between the research questions and the musical themes of the concert programme. This may have unintended negative effects on the audience. This performance addresses this through bespoke composition which was conceived to align with the research questions from the beginning.
A system was developed to take EEG measurements from a member of the audience, which influence a visualisation that changes in real time according to the listener's affective response to the music. An animation of the Northern Lights is projected on a screen, and the stage lighting is also manipulated. The colour of the visuals change according to frontal asymmetry in the listener's brain in the alpha frequency band, which may indicate if their emotions are positive or negative. The colours turn red for relative right activation or negative emotion, and blue for left or positive emotion.