orchestration

[ awr-kuh-strey-shuhn ]

noun

1. the composition or arrangement of music for performance by a band or orchestra, or the music so composed or arranged:

   Holst's iconic musical portrayal of the planets and their astrological significance delights audiences with its rich orchestration and memorable melodies.

2. the instruments used in such a composition or arrangement; instrumentation:

   Handel's original orchestration was for strings and continuo with occasional trumpets and drums.

3. the plans or planning necessary to arrange something or cause something to happen:

   The book chronicles the Empress Dowager’s selection as a concubine and her orchestration of the coup that made her the de facto ruler of China.

4. Computers. an automated series of processes to configure, coordinate, or manage computer systems, data, or software:

   A successful cloud strategy requires orchestration of on-demand provisioning processes and coordination of cloud resources.

Other Words From

• re·or·ches·tra·tion noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of orchestration¹

First recorded in 1830–40; orchestrat(e) ( def ) + -ion ( def )

Example Sentences

On television, the overhead shots of the gathering, with attendees on the National Mall in socially distanced seating, conveyed rather the idea of the confident and meticulous orchestration of an event of worldwide import.

From Washington Post

On Monday, the Post announced a number of updates to Arc, including integrations with BlueConic, a customer data platform that already works with publishers including Hearst and the Boston Globe, and Spreedly, a payments orchestration platform.

From Digiday

Those aligning their data to the customer journey and doing more cross-channel customer journey orchestration were also more likely to be satisfied.

From Search Engine Land

They automate the creation of the staging environment, automation suite and orchestration to create that environment.

From TechCrunch

In the software world, Orquestra is what’s known as an orchestration platform, hence the name.

From Fortune

I then move things around, figuring out the larger orchestration, almost like a piece of sheet music.

From The Daily Beast

“There were so many people involved in the orchestration of this conviction,” Sandusky maintained.

From The Daily Beast

Their moves are barely noticeable—vague diplomatic pronouncements, op-eds, lots of behind-the-scenes orchestration by Russia.

From The Daily Beast

Blanchett achieves this through a level of nuanced physical and aural orchestration that brims over with virtuoso counterpoint.

From The Daily Beast

Smears had happened before in political history, but not with such blatant lies and sophisticated orchestration.

From The Daily Beast

These stops greatly excited the ire of Berlioz, who declaims against them in his celebrated work on orchestration.

From Project Gutenberg

Tchaikovsky was familiar with this style of orchestration from the operas of Meyerbeer and Glinka.

From Project Gutenberg

I am very busy (upon the orchestration of the C minor overture composed during the summer).

From Project Gutenberg

In the orchestration of the aria from Undine, he says, the pianoforte plays an important and really beautiful part.

From Project Gutenberg

The orchestration is very rich, and on the whole original, although the influence of Berlioz is sometimes noticeable.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• composition