Even before it got underway, the autosymphonic was destined to be an event worthy of superlatives. More than 200 vehicles, from which multiple-award-winning composer, Marios Joannou Elia, chose 80 representing all eras, were tested. The noises they made served as the basis for an eight-movement symphony for a large orchestra, automobiles, an adult chorus, and a children's choir.
A group of 120 youths, who received a full-year's free instruction in drumming in order to allow them to elicit sounds from the automobiles on hand at the event, were chosen from those participating in numerous castings held in collaboration with the Baden-Württemberg Popular Music Academy. The visualations involving 3Danimations appearing on the water tower and adjacent buildings, laser show, and still-photograph and video collages were presented on a more than 60sq.m LEDscreen constituted major elements of the concept.
World-renowned photographer and video artist Horst Hamann was responsible for the spectacular visualizations. The event was kicked off by a concert by the Söhne Mannheims. Local youths, the SWR Baden-Baden/Freiburg Symphony Orchestra, the SWR Chorus, and the Stuttgart State Theatre Children's Choir joined forces in performing the multimedia autosymphonic symphony, which garnered worldwide enthusiasm.
The event attracted 17,000 spectators, more than 500 journalists from 40 countries, seven television teams from Asia, the USA, and Europe, and media contact to an audience of more than 1.5 billion. The event was conceived, organized, and produced by m:con - mannheim:congress.
(Jim Evans)
