NEOPLAN movingART en route with The World of Hans Zimmer
We move art – the NEOPLAN movingART collaboration enters the second round. After the tape art project of the Berlin-based Klebebande tape artists, we are now going on concert tour in 2019. NEOPLAN movingART Music accompanies choir and orchestra of the “The World of Hans Zimmer – A Symphonic Celebration” tour through Europe with two NEOPLAN Tourliner coaches.
In the first two months of the tour, more than 20 cities will be on the itinerary, including Munich, Berlin, Prague, and Barcelona. During this time, the coach is the home of the musicians. The comfortable special equipment and possibilities for retreat are fundamental prerequisites for outstanding musical performance.
The two NEOPLAN Tourliner coaches are themselves works of art on wheels. The expressive design in white and gold evokes notions of a tonal amplitude, symbolising the power of sound and the elegance of music. As a statement on the outside of the coach, it also stands for the good vibrations of the NEOPLAN movingART Music tour.
Hans Zimmer – Hollywood made in Germany
Hans Zimmer is one of Hollywood’s most sought-after film composers. The Frankfurt-born musician has been creating monumental worlds of sound and moving melodies. Without his music, blockbusters as “The Lion King”, “The Dark Knight”, “Interstellar” or “Pirates of the Caribbean” would be like a bus deprived of its engine.
For the “The World of Hans Zimmer – A Symphonic Celebration”, the Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe winner arranged parts of his work to suit a large orchestra for the first time. He created new concert suites and thus managed to also reach a younger audience with his music.
Since April 2018, “The World of Hans Zimmer” has been travelling across Europe. Long-standing colleagues of Zimmer accompany the tour, as does Wilhelm Keitel as the orchestra’s Music Director.
“The journey is the be-all and end-all of the concert.”
Conductor Wilhelm Keitel is a devoted expert on Hans Zimmer’s music. He studied with Leonard Bernstein, was an assistant at the Grand Opera in Paris and guest conductor in famous opera houses in Europe and Latin America. He founded the Minsk Orchestra in 1994 and his own label in 2003.
With a profound understanding of the artistic ideas of the composer Hans Zimmer, he imparts the accents and subtleties of his music to the orchestra. He ensures perfect ensemble playing, knows tempo, pulse, rhythm, and the exact phrasing of the pieces. His statement about “The World of Hans Zimmer”:
“There is no show as perfect as this one.”
The musician says that feeling relaxed, even after weeks of travel in the coach, is essential for a successful concert. The comfortable equipment is a crucial condition for the conductor, choir, and orchestra to feel relaxed and at home during the journey and to be able to reach their full potential on stage.
Valuable cargo – first-class musicians on board
Great compositions and a virtuoso conductor are the foundation of the show. Its heart: the Symphony Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre, Belarus, and the Belarus Radio and Television Choir.
The orchestra ranks among the best opera orchestras in the world. The all-rounders have already toured with artists such as Die Fantastischen Vier or Helene Fischer. One highlight in the history of the ensemble, founded in 1933, was its performance at the Opera Festival in Manaus, Brazil, on the banks of the Rio Negro in front of 40,000 spectators.
The Radio and Television Choir, founded in 1931, knows the stages of the world as well – with guest performances in Russia, Slovenia, Poland, Germany, and the Vatican. In 1990, the choir received the Academic Choir Award.
An outstanding performance of the choir was the Ring Parable in Istanbul in 2013 under the baton of conductor Wilhelm Keitel, accompanied by the Belarus Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Interior design – a bassoon does not need a leather seat
Flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns and cellos – the instruments on board are valuable. But except for a safe place, they are actually undemanding. For the musicians, on the other hand, the 16,283 kilometre concert tour means full artistic commitment, but also homesickness and longing for the family.
This is what makes comfort and individual equipment of the coaches all the more important. They are the home of the musicians, a place of retreat and relaxation. Whether they prefer sleeping, reading, looking at the landscape or thinking about the time after the tour – NEOPLAN has designed the interior with adjustable soft leather seats, reading light, curtains, air conditioning, a modern galley, and a powerful infotainment system.
Exterior design – the clear beauty of music
In addition to the interior design, we paid particular attention to the design of the board walls. Our aim: To make clear at first sight – this is grand cinema driving past. In the centre of the print: THE WORLD OF HANS ZIMMER. A name standing for itself.
The golden graphics on the right and left are reminiscent of the vibrational frequencies of tones, signalling their beauty and clarity. Only their harmonious combination produces the fantastic music we bring to the whole of Europe with our Tourliner coaches.
The exterior design also matches the show. Here, expressive pictorial worlds run in the background as well, morphing and changing congenial to the sound.
The first part of the tour took place in March and April 2019. The journey included stops in London, Dublin, Paris, Lisbon, Barcelona, and Munich. It took off in Krakow. The tour will continue in November and run to mid-December 2019. After that, Milan, Amsterdam, Stockholm, but also numerous German cities are on the agenda.
For the first part of the tour in spring 2019, our coaches travelled a total of 32,566 kilometres across Europe.
60 orchestral musicians and 16 choristers belong to the concert family. Also on board: 2 flutes, 1 oboe, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 6 horns, 2 trumpets, 4 trombones, 1 tuba, timpani, percussion, 10 violins I, 8 violins II, 4 violas, 11 cellos, and 4 double basses.
