Following a resounding response from audiences on its premiere last week, Lara Melda will have six more performances in 2023, offering the most immersive, multi-sensory Van Gogh experience yet. The next six performances are set to take place on the 5th of January, 9th and 23rd of February and like the first, are sure to be a hit with visitors of the exhibition.
Exhibition Hub, organiser of Van Gogh The Immersive Experience has partnered with concert pianist Lara Melda, to bring a further element to the immersive exhibition, live music, and the results are astounding. Lara is performing music that Van Gogh would have listened to and been inspired by when he was creating his breath-taking artworks such as The Starry Night and Sunflowers.
The programme features carefully curated pieces chosen by the pianist, Lara, who has been praised by many for her expertise in Chopin among other composers. Your ears will be treated to some well-known classics such as Debussy’s Clair de Lune and Erik Satie’s Trois Gnossiennes, along with Liszt, Poulenc, Beethoven and of course Chopin.
Lara Melda began the piano aged 6, it was clear even at an early age that she had a gift for the majestic instrument. In 2010 Lara won the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, performing Saint-Saëns Piano Concerto No. 2 in the final round with Vasily Petrenko and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in Cardiff. Since then, she has gone on to play in some of the world’s top venues and with leading orchestras.
Van Gogh The Immersive Experience was first launched in 2017 and has been touring the world ever since. It has been ranked highly by many critics including TimeOut, CNN and The Independent. In its fifth year the exhibition breached 5,000,000 visitors.
The organisers, looking for ways to expand on the immersive experience were approached by Lara, who was inspired after visiting the London exhibition for herself, offered to perform live in the room with Van Gogh’s art being projected throughout the room and over her C. Bechstein D grand piano, graciously provided by Jaques Samuel Pianos.
With the first performance already in the books, the limited number of tickets for the following concert on January 5th are selling fast, and February’s tickets will be released to the public very soon.
Lara Melda comments: “Free from the lockdowns during the pandemic, I was keen on returning to the vast art, music and culture scene of London. One of the first exhibitions I went to was the Van Gogh Immersive Experience and I was blown away by how I was transported away from the outside world and into Van Gogh’s paintings. I was so affected and inspired by the exhibition that I began envisioning how incredible it would be if we added another sensory element to it – live music. Performing in the immersive room is so different to my usual concert setting where there is a definite separation between artist and audience. In the immersive room we become intertwined, the moment the performance begins the audience, and I are fully immersed on a journey together through Van Gogh’s life – the music and art together evoke different emotions, feelings and memories for each person. Working with Exhibition Hub is wonderful, and I am thrilled it’s all come to fruition and that the world can now see our breath-taking exhibition too. The experience is simply magical.”
Exhibition Hub comments: “What astonishing visual and aural effects that you have never experienced before! Combining Van Gogh’s art with a live concert by one of the most talented pianists in the UK is a brand-new concept. You fully immerse yourself in the magical 360° of visual animation with classical music. Lara Melda’s live performance perfectly matches the immersive show, it is definitely a multidimensional experience that should not be missed and is suitable for all ages!”