Watch videos of the largest orchestra ever assembled

A new world record was set on July 9, 2016, in Frankfurt, Germany, where 7,548 musicians gathered for a 45-minute concert that featured works by Beethoven and Dvořák.

With an ensemble 75 times the size of a typical orchestra, the Commerzbank Arena — a 51,500-capacity stadium best known as the home ground of the Bundesliga soccer club Eintracht Frankfurt — hosted the concert. Seating for the musicians was set up across the playing surface, and the musicians watched conductor Wolf Kerschek on a massive video screen at one end of the pitch.

Although the initial plan was to attract 10,000 musicians to the Commerzbank Arena on July 9, an orchestra surpassing 7,500 was more than enough to achieve a record. The previous record for the largest-ever orchestra was set in 2013 in Brisbane, Australia, where 7,224 musicians performed. The concert in Frankfurt, which has yet to be confirmed by the Guinness Book of World Records, was officiated by the German Institute for Records, which acknowledged a new world record had been set.

Records aside, for conductor Kerschek, the event was all about music. "I'm so happy the audience will hear the biggest orchestra in the world," Kerschek told Berlin-based news agency Ruptly. "I'm sure no one has ever heard a sound like this. It's about really sharing something, sharing the idea of music, of playing together, of really exchanging emotionally."

Watch videos from the performance:

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