Getting on the stage at Carnegie Hall usually requires years of practice and for your instrumental skills to be among the world’s best, but now, the requirements aren’t quite as stringent thanks to “a new virtual exhibition from the Google Cultural Institute and more than 60 performing arts organizations.”

Google placed 360-degree cameras on stage during a performance of Peer Gynt’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King”, so as the performance is going on, you can click and drag to look around and see what the orchestra members are doing around you. The effect is actually much more fascinating on a mobile device, since you can just move your phone to look around instead. It’s a weird kind of fun to just watch an inactive musician just stand there and wait for his cue.

A performance at Carnegie Hall isn’t the only available experience: “With 360-degree performance recordings, you can choose a dancer’s-eye view of the crowd, or look down from the stage into the orchestra pit,” Google wrote in a blog post. “At the Paris Opera, you can stand in the middle of the largest stage in Europe, surrounded by dancers performing choreographer Benjamin Millepied’s moves. Sit between the woodwinds and strings at Carnegie Hall with a full view of Maestro Nézet-Séguin. Don’t worry if you’re underdressed as you tour the Berliner Philharmoniker’s rehearsal performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with conductor Sir Simon Rattle—you’ll see the orchestra is not in black tie either.”

Check out all of the four virtual reality experiences here, and let us know in the comments which one if your favorite.

—

HT: Engadget

Featured image courtesy of Google