lang="en-US"> THE SCOOP | K-W Symphony Dare Computer Programmers to "Hack the Orchestra"
Ludwig van Toronto

THE SCOOP | K-W Symphony Dare Computer Programmers to “Hack the Orchestra”

Michael Vincent
The Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony organizes “Hack the Orchestra” - the first hackathon in the world that gives hackers a full symphony orchestra and concert hall experience to work with.
The Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony organizes “Hack the Orchestra” – the first hackathon in the world that gives hackers a full symphony orchestra and concert hall experience to work with.

It is not often an orchestra puts out a call for computer hackers daring them to “Hack the Orchestra” – after all, aren’t hackers the same techno-levying folks ready to take control of your computer and steal all your data? In this case – not really…

The Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony (KWS) have organized a friendly competition which will give student and professional level computer software and hardware developers a chance to compete with ideas and technology to better the concert hall experience for symphony patrons. They will get the chance to work with the orchestra musicians in the 2000-seat capacity theatre (Centre In The Square), along with Music Director Edwin Outwater, and the theatre tech crew.

The 36-hour challenge is open for developers of any age, and winners will have their chosen solutions tested during a series of concerts on September 2015.

Contestants will gather just before a concert of Beethoven’s Eroica by the KWS on May 22, at 5 p.m. After an orientation dinner, the KWS will reveal the problem for the hackers to solve. After the concert, the hackers will be assigned workgroups, where they will record their proposed solutions. By 11 p.m., the contest starts, and will go through the night.

The following day, they will meet at 10:30 a.m. and the KWS will proceed to demo their solutions and prototypes with full orchestra and conductor.

On the third day (May 24), 3 finalists will be selected by a team of judges and awards distributed.

The winners will have their winning projects demonstrated during a formal concert September 2015.

See here for full schedule, rules, application and judging criteria.

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