Colonne Orchestra
goes digital

The First Ever Conductor to Use a Large Digital Screen

On October 1st, a very special concert took place in Puteaux, France. Jean-Felix Lalanne, Jean-Marie Ecay and Eric Gombart the best and brightest of French guitarists played for two hours, accompanied by 40 musicians from the Orchestre Colonne, one of the oldest French orchestras. Both musicians and conductor were equipped with iPad Pros and the Newzik application. Laurent Petitgirard, in fact, became the first-ever conductor to use our 42-inch screen prototype.

None of the musicians had used the application beforehand, therefore all had to master it rather quickly, with only two rehearsals before the live show and the concert being in a different venue than the rehearsals, not to mention with only a few minutes to set the stage, managing that many iPads were a definitely a challenge. But the real challenge was convincing Laurent Petitgirard to give our giant screen the first ever test run, little did he know he would not be disappointed!

Colonne Orchestra Drums digital sheet music iPad

About

One of the oldest and most-respected orchestras in France, the Orchestre Colonne was founded in 1873 by violinist and conductor Édouard Colonne. It was historically the first French Orchestra to welcome foreign conductors, including Weingartner, Debussy or Prokofiev. Since 2004, conductor and musical director of the Orchestra Laurent Petigirard, has become of the biggest names within the classical music world.

THE DIGITAL PERFORMANCE

40 Musicians and the Conductor using Newzik on 12.9 inch iPad Pros

The Repertoire

Opening with the Orchestra

Symphonie Astrale, Jean-Felix Lalanne

Second part: guitar trios

1. Pur Hasard, Eric Gombart

2. Violin Concerto, Mendelssohn

3. Sur La Route De Dunkerque, Eric Gombart

4. Calou’s Dance, Jean-Felix Lalanne

5. Haizean, Jean-Marie Ecay

6. Swimming Pool, Jean-Felix Lalanne

7. Funky Blues, Eric Gombart

8. Zazpiak, Jean-Marie Ecay

9. White Forest, Eric Gombart

Third part: three guitars and the orchestra

1. Bras Dessus, Jean-Marie Ecay

2. Almadia, Jean-Marie Ecay

3. Waltz For Chris, Eric Gombart

4. Baritwaltz, Richard Galliano

5. Bleu, Jean-Felix Lalanne

Musician making markings during a performance

Musician using the iRig BlueTurn foot pedal

LARGE TOUCH SCREEN FOR CONDUCTORS

The biggest screen for the best music reader!

A video of Laurent Petitgirard using the large touchscreen

In the video seen here, the conductor is rehearsing with the large touch-screen. The screen is directly connected to the Maestro’s iPad Pro for no latency annotation.

To turn pages, he simply touches the sides of the large screen.
The Newzik digital stand nicely hides the wires and allows the iPad Pro to continuously charge.

The Maestro was thrilled to read his scores on such a large screen and to interact with his musicians by sharing with them some of his markings. The backlit screen was a real game-changer according to him.