EDM Is Shifting From The Warehouse To The Opera House. Here's Why.

The Ministry of Sound Orchestra will be bringing the “unce unce” to Utzon’s Sydney Opera House tomorrow night, reuniting with Simon Lewicki (aka Groove Terminator) on stage for “Orchestrated 2018”. After the success of last year’s shows in Sydney’s State Theatre and Melbourne’s Hamer Hall, the orchestra returns with an encore performance of some legendary club classics, led by conductor Guy Noble, with musical direction by Adam Sofo and Groove Terminator on the decks, all for one evening under the iconic white sails.

“It was born out of a discussion with our events team about how we could recreate great moments in people’s clubbing history,” Soapbox Events CEO Tim McGee explains, “taking cherished musical memories and reinterpreting in a new way that really pulled on the audience’s heartstrings and paid homage to great songs.”

Lewicki and McGee had no shortage of great songs over the years to choose from. Unlike an all-night DJ set, the show is condensed to that of a regular performance of only a couple of hours - so how easy was it to pick the final setlist?

“This is almost the hardest part!” explains Lewicki. “After going over the hundreds of older MoS compilations and our personal track recollections over a period of a few months, assembling several hundred potential tracks into what would have been a several hour set, we then whittled them down via questions like, ‘Will this orchestrate well? Is this a proper classic or do I just really love this song?’ and even, ‘Can I bear to hear this track ever again’? The end result is an ever-evolving set with peaks and flows just like a DJ set and one of any of our classic compilations from back in the day.”

Not only has the show stepped up in venue, but lighting designer Peter Rubie, who is behind the MoS Club at ivy Sydney, has been brought on board. McGee also explains, “We have added six new songs to the show, and tweaked a few of the tracks from the original score adding more orchestration.”

In addition to Australia’s own Owl Eyes, three new vocalists have been added to this show; Alison Limerick (of 90s club anthem “Where Love Lives” fame), Deutsch Duke (vocalist for Set Mo and Flight Facilities) and Ilan Kidron (The Potbelleez).

“I was taken aback at how much the audience got into the show so quickly really!” explains Lewicki, speaking on the 2017 shows. “One moment that was super cool was seeing the looks on the orchestra players when they were playing Barber's ‘Adagio For Strings’ and how much the crowd was losing it! That was priceless, I don't think they'd ever seen a reaction to that piece of music like that before!”

So how will a venue like the Opera House compare to some of the best clubs Australia has to offer?

“Better air conditioning for one!” McGee kids. “But honestly the thrill of having these classic records that have been a part of all of our lives for so long come to life around you while onstage is a pretty amazing feeling; you can’t compare the two really.”