Tube Orchestra Challenge

Shaun Buswell has set himself a challenge.  He wants to form  an entire orchestra (30-100 people) made up of strangers that he's met for the first time on the London Underground. If this isn't hard enough, the musicians he invites to form the orchestra must be carrying their instrument (or part of it) when he meets them for the first time.  So if you're a musican on the Tube and Shaun comes across you he "has" to speak to you.

String Quartet at the Jubilee Line Opening

The idea is that the orchestra will then perform at a London venue by 12th December 2012. Shaun must not know the musicians personally nor have met or communicated with them directly in person before (i.e they must be complete strangers to him).  I'm not sure where Shaun travels, but since he set the challenge last month he's  averaging at 2 musicians a day and it's building up momentum more and more with each passing month.

Shaun said on his blog "What I'm not 100% about yet is

- who will conduct this orchestra
- where the show will be
- what date it will be on
- who will come and watch it

I am speaking to conductors at the moment, but nothing finalised, and we have a venue pencilled in for 12th December and I'm pretty certain it's the one I want to use. But others are still in the running and people offering alternative options. I can't tell you where we have pencilled in until we sign everything, but here's some facts (I like facts!):

1) It's a great Victorian theatre in central London, that still has all of its art deco features
2) Charlie Chaplin once played there
3) It closed as a theatre for many years, and was also a cinema for a long while.
4) It's 3 times as big as some of the venues I looked at!
5) It's lovely and I really like the people who run it. Very decent folk!"

To find out more about Shaun's challenge, you can visit The Underground Challennge or follow him on Twitter @121212challenge or visit his Facebook Page.

I wish Shaun the best of luck & I'll be keeping an eye on his Twitter page to see how things develop.

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London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Monday, July 16, 2012 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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