The ten thousands of commuters and visitors of the South Bank Centre are welcomed every day by PLAY.orchestra. A stage and seats laid out as an authentic orchestra
can be seen as they come down the Jubilee Bridge.
When no one is on stage, sounds of instruments tuning up are released every now and then, intriguing and informing that something is getting ready to happen...

sit.PLAY
By taking a seat on the stage, people become players.
The instrument that belongs there begins to sound,
playing its part in a piece of music. They also have
the opportunity to experience all the instruments
of an orchestra, by moving around the space and trying different seats. To give everyone a chance to PLAY,
some seats have been replaced by 'hotspots'
with a representation of their instruments on the floor,
allowing wheelchair users to trigger instruments.
The more seats or hotspots are occupied, the more
the composition is revealed.

PLAY.bluetooth
Wireless technology allows the players to further
engage with the sound piece. Once seated comfortably, they are invited to switch on their mobile phone's Bluetooth device to receive free sounds, or contribute to a musical piece in the making:

— PLAY.back
Players can receive free ringtones — either recordings
of the unique experience they just created by sitting
on different seats, or prerecorded piece from Philharmonia Orchestra musical pieces.

— PLAY.fwd
Players can also send their own recordings to be included
in the Philharmonia Sound Exchange library. With these sounds, a new musical piece will be composed and featured at PLAY.orchestra, in the last 3 weeks of its showing.
Each time a sound sample is sent, all the seats play
for X seconds, rewarding the players for their contribution.

PLAY.live
Specific 'live events' happen on site every Saturday.
Philharmonia Orchestra musicians, perform their parts
of the musical scores live, alongside members of the public triggering the prerecorded parts. Composers also participate in guided tours of their piece, while animateurs run through the instruments of the orchestra with some music-making games.

Meanwhile, helpers are on hand to show how to exchange and record sounds using Bluetooth. They also carry mobile phones (sponsored by Samsung and BT mobile) and invite participants without one to record and pass on sounds.

Batons are also provided for participants to conduct
the orchestra by directing those in the installation to stand or sit.

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