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By Chantine Akiyama and Sue Liang, Undergraduate Researchers (UROPs) at the MIT Media Lab.
Hey guys this week we have a special guest!! You have heard bits and pieces from him and about him, but we’re going to get to the nitty gritty this time and really tune into his heartbeat regarding the Symphony in D project through an interview. The special guest is… Composer and Professor Tod Machover, head of the Opera of the Future group at the MIT Media Lab! He is the creative mind behind much of the Collaborative City Symphony work and just an inspiring leader and role model for his students. Here’s our interview with him. What’s on your heart for the Symphony in D project? Detroit is the ideal city; it has an incredible story to tell. It’s a city that grew up very fast and then lost half of its population. Detroit was the center of modern industry with the formative car industry, very proud, and it all crashed and fell apart in a perfect storm of all the problems that underlie capitalism. In Detroit’s history you can see all the potential and pitfalls of the US and modern society. It turns out that using music to think about these issues is great timing. The city has responded the way I wanted it to. We’ve set a process of convening around music and will just let it happen. Bryn Bliska and Charles Holbrow, MIT Media Lab, Boston USA.
What does it mean to listen to a city? And, in turn, how do you best capture this experience and share it with others? As research assistants in the Opera of the Future group, we share a deep love for the act of listening, and are fortunate to visit different places around the world simply to grapple with these questions. So, as you all approach A Symphony for Lucerne, we wanted to share our approach with you.
1. A Rainy Luzern Night
Shemija, Leopold, and Sara
2. Buzy Luzern Street
Rayan, Johana, and Rebecca
1. Stuttering Stammering Spluttering Susan
Leander Perrez
2. Donkey March
Lea Schaffner and Vera Stöckli I am very pleased to welcome you to an unusual musical adventure, a “collaborative” symphony about and for Perth, Australia, that I will create over the coming months along with any of you with a strong connection to Perth: if you live in Perth, come from Perth, or simply love Perth, please join me on this journey. Under the auspices of the Perth International Arts Festival and the MIT Media Lab, where I am a composer, inventor and Professor of Music & Media, I will be creating this new composition entitled From the Desert to the Deep Blue Sea: A Symphony for Perth that will be premiered by the West Australian Symphony Orchestra as a finale to the Festival on March 1, 2014. Instead of writing this piece alone, I invite all of you to collaborate on the creation and development of this symphony.
From Tod's Facebook page: Exciting first rehearsal yesterday with full orchestra of FESTIVAL CITY. Here’s the Royal Scottish National Orchestra trying out the piece for the first time, in their rehearsal space in Glasgow. On my way back there now for more rehearsing. More pictures soon.  This is the “visual score” of the final version of A TORONTO SYMPHONY which will be premiered this Saturday, March 9th. It has been an amazing journey, and I can’t wait to share the work with my new friends in Toronto, and with YOU! – Tod  Check out this press release from the CN Tower!!  March 7, 2013 (Toronto, ON) Toronto residents and all those within sight of the CN Tower are invited to watch a unique CN Tower light show synchronized to the world première of A Toronto Symphony: Concerto for Composer and City – the first symphony created for, by and about Torontonians.
Tune in to TSO.CA for a live webcast where you will hear a live audio feed of the concert as well as see visuals, which will include graphics, video, and photos illustrating both the piece and the process of its creation, alongside a live video feed of the CN Tower’s light show. The complete concert is performed live at Roy Thomson Hall on March 9, 2013 beginning 8pm, and the webcast and CN Tower lighting will be live with the A Toronto Symphony: Concerto for Composer and City première at approximately 9pm. What does Toronto sound like? That’s the question that composer Tod Machover and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra have been answering with the help of Torontonians in A Toronto Symphony: Concerto for Composer and City. Led by Machover, and in partnership with the world renowned MIT Media Lab, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra asked Torontonians to collaborate in creating a work for, by, and about our city. Tod was in Toronto on September 29 to lead a workshop with members of the Toronto Youth Orchestra, as part of Culture Days festivities. Here are some photos of Tod directing the talented young instrumentalists through a collaborative exploration of “sounds of Toronto.” Video and audio coming soon! |