Livestreaming free to the world since 2013, ROCO has been a pioneer in expanding access to classical music, through the innovative use of multimedia to energize, modernize, and personalize the concert experience. Continually striving to enhance quality, our livestreams have come a long way in the past eleven years—and since 2021, have been transformed through our work with BEND Productions as our primary partner.
“BEND Productions has been honored to be the premiere live video production partner for ROCO over the past several years,” says Ben Doyle, Founder. “With some performances utilizing as many as 12 cameras, our live-streaming broadcasts have been a large and successful undertaking that hopefully has allowed audiences to view ROCO concerts in a whole new way. ROCO has been a great partner in encouraging the use of video technology, and by opening up concerts to viewers in Houston and beyond who may not have had previous access to high-quality, free performing arts programming.”
Commissioned originally by the Stockton Symphony, composer John Wineglass‘ Cityscapes is a musical portrait of the colorful contrasts of city life, presented in its premiere with accompanying video of the sights and sounds of Stockton, California.
To open ROCO’s 20th season, we commissioned John to create a rescoring sized for full 40-piece chamber orchestra—a perfect canvas to showcase original film created by BEND Productions and Houston First, celebrating Houston’s rich tapestry of architectural and natural beauty, and its many distinctive neighborhoods, cuisines, and cultures.
“We wanted to utilize the amazing collection of existing footage from the Visit Houston stock library, shot by local videographers such as Lance Childers, Media Content Producer for Houston First—to bring to life the fantastic music of John Wineglass,” says Ben Doyle. “This compilation edit pays homage to our great city and to the artists and creatives who live and work here.”
From Justin Nava, primary video editor: “We start in Downtown Houston and the bayou which are signatures of our city, and the initial crescendo in the music sets the tone and location. Then we move through the surrounding neighborhoods geographically, starting with the Museum District and Hermann Park, which brings us to Miller Outdoor Theatre and allows us to show one of our first shots of ROCO.”
“From there we head to the Houston Zoo, and over into the Med Center by Metro rail. We really wanted to flow with the different musical moods to take the viewer on a tour of different aspects of Houston. We are a rich industrial city, but Houston has far more green spaces than people expect. Our high-end dining and arts scenes inspired the cuts of River Oaks and the Menil, but the street culture is a huge part of our identity as well, highlighted by the local artists and hip-hop elements. As we reach the more playful sections of the piece, it was fun to show off attractions that are not necessarily tied to geography, like the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, and our nightlife. And of course, for the final section, we had to show NASA and why we are known as Space City.”
Join us as we kick off our 20th season, and experience the world premiere of John Wineglass’ new scoring of Cityscapes, presented with original film by BEND Productions and Houston First—in ROCO In Concert: REMARKABLE, Friday, September 27, 2024, 7:30 pm at Miller Outdoor Theatre! (Free admission, reserve tickets at Miller’s website starting Sept. 26th.)
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