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EnglishWhat Is Symphonic Photochoreography? Westwater Arts Explained
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Symphonic photochoreography is a live performance art that pairs evocative panoramic photography with an orchestra playing classical music in the same hall at the same time. Westwater Arts, led by photographer and multimedia artist Nicholas Bardonnay, creates and tours these "visual concertos": the images are cued live to the orchestra's performance rather than run as a fixed film or slideshow. It is built for concert programming — masterworks, pops, chamber and festival concerts — and the company says its pieces have been programmed by over 200 orchestras of all sizes.
What the audience actually sees and hears
The orchestra is the soundtrack and the anchor. Large-scale panoramic imagery is projected in sync with the music, and the cueing happens live during the performance. That distinction matters: a pre-timed video would drift from the conductor's tempo, while live cueing lets the visuals follow the orchestra's pacing and the conductor's choices.
The photography is the other half of the form. Bardonnay's images are described as evocative panoramas, and his work has been exhibited in galleries in London, Los Angeles, Portland and Hong Kong, among others. Since joining Westwater Arts in 2009, he has worked on more than 140 concerts with orchestras in U.S. cities as well as Scotland, England, Singapore, Canada, Poland and Germany.
How a Westwater Arts concert comes together
The company describes a four-stage process:
- Peruse — explore the online repertoire of concert pieces. Many pieces offer multiple music options, and all contain hundreds of images.
- Plan — contact Westwater Arts to discuss programming ideas, ask questions, get a quote and reserve concert dates.
- Program — once collaboration is agreed, the company sends marketing materials and goes over production details.
- Perform — the Westwater Arts team travels to the city, sets up equipment with the venue's stage crew, and cues the concert pieces live to the orchestra.
For an orchestra or presenter, the practical takeaway is that this is a booked, traveling production with its own equipment and operator, not a media file you run yourself.
The repertoire: music and imagery already paired
Each concert piece bundles a theme, a set of images and one or more composer options. A few examples from the featured repertoire:
| Piece | Theme | Composers listed |
|---|---|---|
| Mágico | Modern Mexico — diversity, beauty and warmth | Chávez, Copland, Márquez, Moncayo |
| National Park Suite | America the Beautiful and its National Parks | Beethoven, Copland, Dvořák, Ives, Vaughan Williams |
| Visions | America's First Peoples, through Edward Curtis's sepia-toned photographs | Barber, Vaughan Williams |
| Mother Road | Route 66 and the spirit of Americana | Tyzik |
| Sagaland | — | Hovhaness, Pä... (listing truncated) |
The multiple music options are what make the format flexible for different orchestra types: the same visual program can be set to different scores depending on the concert's needs.
What it is not
- Not a standalone film. There is no self-contained narrative movie; the music leads and the images respond.
- Not a slideshow. Cueing is live and tied to the orchestra's performance, not advanced on a timer.
- Not a recording project. The form exists for live concerts with an orchestra in the hall.
Who it suits
Symphonic photochoreography fits presenters looking to add a visual dimension to orchestral programming — pops series, festival concerts, family or thematic programs — without commissioning new media themselves. Because the repertoire already pairs images with composer options, the main decisions are which piece matches the audience and which music option fits the orchestra. Pricing, availability and licensing terms are not published on the site; those come through the planning conversation and quote.