Synthony in the Snow
For the first time ever, Synthony will head to Queenstown for a spectacular night of dance anthems at Coronet Peak. Mesmerising lights and visuals will light up the mountain as 30 years of dance anthems are performed by vocalists, instrumentalists, orchestra, and DJs that have join forces for the show.
Synthony is a music event like no other – starting in Auckland back in 2017, the show quickly gained popularity. Each performance showcases the last 30 years of popular dance music (think Fat Boy Slim, Darude, Avicii, and Eric Prydz), backed by the might of a large-scale orchestra. The orchestra will be conducted by Emma Featherstone and feature vocalists and instrumentalists Ella Monnery, Luca George, Cherie Mathieson, Sam Allen, Lewis McCallum and Iri Aumatangi.
Show Director Ryan Youens says that they’ve been wanting to bring Synthony to Queenstown for a while now, and that the show is well-suited to all types of different music lovers.
“I would say it’s a collision of multiple genres of music – we’ve got electronic dance music and we’ve got orchestral music,” says Ryan. “Our Music Director, Dick, is a DJ and electronic dance music producer, and there’s me, who has an orchestral background and works with orchestras in many different ways – we come together and create the show. We started in 2017 and it’s grown since then. In 2019 we had our first show in Australia and we toured to four or five centres there. Last year we had our first show in Singapore. It’s slowly getting it’s legs, and we’re going to new places around New Zealand as well.”
They’ve found organising a show in the snow to be a little more challenging than others, but are excited for one of the most unique performances they’ve put on. Synthony will be bringing with them their custom-designed stage, which includes another major component of the show; all their laser, video and lighting elements.
“No matter what the venue, it’s always good fun piecing it all together, because of course, right in the middle of it you’ve got to put an orchestra. Going up the mountain, I guess it’s the same thing but just next level in terms of what we can do up there. It’s a slightly smaller orchestra – we’re doing an 18-piece orchestra up there, which is as large as we can go with the restraint of space. It’ll still be really great; a great show with the mix of instruments. We did a similar thing in Melbourne about two weeks ago with the same setup and it went really well.”
The show will run for 90 minutes and feature everything from 80s and 90s dance classics through to super recent tracks and a couple that have been freshly written to put into the Queenstown show, making their premiere. The show is the Symphony No.1, which includes artists that have been a part of the history and have really helped to shape what we get to enjoy. While the orchestra for the show is usually that of the local cities, for Queenstown there’ll be a mix of local musicians and some coming down from Auckland to bring it all together.
“It really is for anyone – there is something in there for everyone. If you’re into electronic dance music, there’s definitely something in there, but if you’re intrigued or an orchestral music lover, or even if you just like a really great show – there’s so many elements to this. People come in not really knowing what to expect, and they’ve all had a really great night,” says Ryan.
Synthony in the Snow will be up Coronet Peak on Saturday 19 August. The shows always sell out, so don’t procrastinate on this one! Tickets include a free night ski pass and can be found along with more information at synthony.com/queenstown
