Audience sits on stage in the orchestra in ‘Club Surround’

And it was quite a special musical experience to sit next to the violinist, the trombonist or even a soloist. The French top conductor Stéphane Denève knew how to play the audience like no other, 360 degrees around. The audience thoroughly enjoyed it. Jan De Moor, Club Surround programmer: “The audience is in the music. They really feel the music vibrate. And this is a concept that works for the melomaniac who is often in the hall, who is now actually in the orchestra, but it also works for the people who have nothing to do with classical music.”

The musicians themselves also enjoyed last night, although it took some getting used to. The audience was literally watching the violinist or trombonist closely. Tim Van Medegael, trombonist: “If you play loudly -I’m a trombonist- then it suddenly disappears, like: what happens? The downside, of course, is that some musicians you play with are a long way from me. It’s a little more difficult, but on the other hand, it’s super fun with the audience so close.”

Also tonight and tomorrow there will be Club Surround with the Brussels Philharmonic in Bruges.