How Telia Network Conducted an Orchestra... 800 Kilometres Apart

The date: 29 April 2015. An expectant audience gathers at Gothenburg Concert Hall. 

Fourteen musicians wait at five locations all around Sweden. Their task: to play live together over the Telia fibre network and give the audience a musical experience quite unlike anything they have ever experienced before. The film Playing Apart presents us with a unique experiment, a partnership between Telia and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.

Orchestral music operates with margins of hundredths of a second. To perform a concert online with members of the orchestra in a variety of locations, the transmission of sound is absolutely crucial. The slightest delay risks destroying the experience for the listener. This was one of the challenges faced by the Playing Apart project. Another was the fact that the sound had to be of CD quality, with HD quality images in order to provide the audience with a realistic concert experience.

Telia took the initiative to implement this unique experiment. The intention was to demonstrate that it is possible to work remotely with the right tools and a fast connection.

“Digitisation is key to the strength of Swedish companies in the face of competition. This is why we are investing billions in the expansion of both fixed and mobile networks – primarily 4G and fibre – all over the country over a number of years,” says Malin Frenning, CEO of Telia in Sweden.

The Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra does not normally spread its musicians all over the country. But when Telia asked whether they wanted to be involved, they agreed. According to Karolina Hülphers, project manager at Telia, they thought the project sounded exciting.

“At the same time, we knew that putting the musicians in different places where they would not be able to see one another and asking them to perform the music with the same precision as if they had been sitting in a concert hall was a major challenge. As far as we know, this had never been done before.”

The members of the orchestra were then sent to five different places in Sweden: Åreskutan in Jämtland, Slottsskogen in Gothenburg and Smögen in Bohuslän were a few of them. Everyone involved was aware that everything had to work perfectly to produce a good result.

“The musicians had to be able to hear the sound with absolutely no delay – easier said than done when they are more than 800 kilometres apart. And the quality of the audio and visuals had to be high enough to present the audience at Gothenburg Concert Hall with a realistic musical experience. These were two major challenges, and Telia did an absolutely fantastic job,” said a very pleased Jörgen Odh of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.