Brave New World

A new concert hall has the facility for a conductor in Europe to conduct an orchestra onstage in Florida while the audience enjoys the performance in the hall and from anywhere in the world connected to the Internet. The New World Center in Miami Beach, Florida, opened last month and is offering a combination of classical music and modern technology in a building designed by Frank Gehry in collaboration with consultants Theatre Projects. The 757-seat interactive concert hall was designed as “a technologically and visually advanced music laboratory intended for the highest quality of music education and performance”, and is wired with Internet2 technology, nearly 360-degree video projection and advanced audio systems, which allow the space to connect virtually with other concert halls, classrooms and arts facilities around the world. A wireless cable pathway provides external broadcast capabilities into the two-and-a-half acre public park outside.