About The Augmented Orchestra

The Augmented Orchestra (AO) is a technology created, developed and implemented by the composer Anna Clyne and sound designer Jody Elff.

Over a bottle of wine in Brooklyn in 2017, long-time collaborators Anna and Jody discussed the potential for expanding upon an acoustic orchestra – to integrate contemporary audio technologies to the traditional orchestral model. Not a playback-with-orchestra model, and not looping or amplification, but rather a true merging of current sound manipulation tools with the long established sound world of the symphony orchestra. 

Anna says “after years of composing electro-acoustic music, I felt limited by click tracks and looping which didn’t leave room for tempo expressivity, so I took a pause to focus on purely acoustic music. Considering the reintegration of electronics, a sound-world that I love, I wanted to find a way to fully integrate the unique qualities and the potential of live electronics into my orchestral work.”

Jody says “the 20th century saw the emergence of an entirely new music-making process that embraced audio technology as part of the creative process. Now that computational power has reached the point where we can truly work in real time, it is exciting to combine these powerful audio tools with the acoustic power of the orchestra, merging traditional and contemporary sound worlds.” 

AO applies audio processing to a live orchestra within a musical composition to expand the sonic potential of the orchestra in real time. Using custom software designed by Jody, AO augments elements of the orchestra across multiple modalities including tone, amplitude, dynamics, location and environment which are then diffused through a PA system, alongside the acoustic orchestra.

Examples of AO processes are pitching shifting double basses down an octave to create an organ-like quality, running clarinets through distortion to emulate the sound of electric guitars, and adding harmonic clouds to flutes so that they hover above the orchestra long after they stop playing. So why not just use an organ and electric guitars? It is because the quality of the sound is different – it is a completely new sonority, which is what drew Anna and Jody to this sonic exploration from the very start. 

The Augmented Orchestra was first used in the world premiere of Anna’s Wild Geese, with conductor Cristian Mӑcelaru, at the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music in 2023. The Augmented Orchestra has since featured in Anna’s The Gorgeous Nothings, premiered at the BBC Proms in August 2024 with the Swingles Singers and BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, with Nicholas Collon conducting. AO also features in Anna’s PALETTE, to be premiered by the St Louis Symphony Orchestra in February 2025.