Who are you - Deep Blue Orchestra

Monday night Deep Blue Orchestra played their "Who are you" show at the Barossa Arts and Convention Centre in Tanunda. Deep Blue Orchestra play a fusion of rock, electronic and orchestral music - and they don't play it sitting down. The energetic orchestra members could best be described as stunt musicians with some of their daring feats of musical madness. Deep Blue makes orchestra fun and demonstrates to young, aspiring, musicians that it can be cool to play one of the classical instruments. I get the feeling that these performers were once the kids who's parents made them take classical music at school; the emotions and experiences of growing up with music was threaded throughout the show - ultimately culminating in finding out "who are you" - this also provided a great excuse to play the song of the same title by The Who, which sounds great played by the orchestra.

The Deep Blue Orchestra have a lot going on (and must have a lot of energy!) - they are an innovative act in the first place, but, with a real community focus too - for example, the Young Blue program which encourages young musicians to experience the Deep Blue orchestra approach to music. Not only that but they are fund raising to provide education in music to children in third world countries - this is the only show I have ever seen where the performers busk at the intermission to raise money for the underprivileged.

The concept of Deep Blue got me thinking about whether the concept could be applied to other areas of art or science. I could imagine presenting science to students in a "rock and roll" fashion - perhaps this could even be combined with the orchestral experience! I must admit that I don't know many scientists that can ride a unicycle though. Deep Blue certainly make it look cool to be a  classical musician.

I really enjoyed the show and admire the enthusiasm, energy, daring and skill of the Deep Blue Orchestra.