Composer Tod Machover's Philadelphia Voices contains recordings from all over the city. Philadelphia is the birthplace of American democracy and Tod Machover says he wanted to create an exploration of the ideals that are worth trying to build on.

(Credit: Philadelphia Orchestra)

Transcript 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Take the everyday sounds of a city - traffic, people's voices - give them to composer and MIT professor Tod Machover and out comes a symphony.

(SOUNDBITE OF TOD MACHOVER'S "A TORONTO SYMPHONY")

KELLY: That's from "A Toronto Symphony," the first of several city symphonies Machover has composed. Tonight, "Philadelphia Voices" will be performed at Carnegie Hall with The Philadelphia Orchestra.

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

We asked Machover to give us a taste of some of the everyday sounds he's woven into this symphony.

(SOUNDBITE OF TOD MACHOVER'S "PHILADELPHIA VOICES")

UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: Huzzah, huzzah, huzzah, huzzah, huzzah, huzzah.

TOD MACHOVER: Huzzah was at the incredible Museum of the American Revolution. It was on Halloween, and they were teaching kids how to play Revolutionary War battle drums.

(SOUNDBITE OF TOD MACHOVER'S "PHILADELPHIA VOICES")

COMMONWEALTH YOUTH CHOIR: (Singing) Philadelphia, Philadelphia.

MACHOVER: This was a group called the Commonwealth Youth Choir. I asked them to each sing the word Philadelphia in a way that showed something about how they felt about Philadelphia and also something about themselves.

(SOUNDBITE OF TOD MACHOVER'S "PHILADELPHIA VOICES")

COMMONWEALTH YOUTH CHOIR: (Singing) Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Philadelphia.

MACHOVER: When I go into cities, I try to avoid the most obvious cliche for those cities, so I tried to avoid the cheesesteak, but...

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Can I help you?

MACHOVER: ...I went to this cheesesteak place, and not only did they let me put my microphone almost on the griddle when the cheesesteaks were sizzling, the cook tried to tell me that the cheesesteaks weren't so bad for you.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: It brings people together, you know?

KELLY: The sizzle of a Philly cheesesteak, and other sounds, composer Tod Machover has worked into his new symphony "Philadelphia Voices." It will be performed tonight at Carnegie Hall.
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(SOUNDBITE OF TOD MACHOVER'S "PHILADELPHIA VOICES")

(Credit: ​Jessica Griffin/Philadelphia Orchestra)

By Peter Dizikes.

Philadelphia is having an entertaining 2018. The Eagles won the Super Bowl. Villanova rolled to the men’s national college basketball championship. And now, for a culture break, residents can enjoy “Philadelphia Voices,” an ambitious new symphony by acclaimed MIT composer Tod Machover. The piece, which incorporates citizen contributions and the sounds and words of everyday life, is the sixth part of the “City Symphony” series by Machover, who is the Muriel R. Cooper Professor of Music and Media at the MIT Media Lab. The symphony, having made its debut in Philadelphia from April 5-7, will also be performed at New York’s Carnegie Hall on April 10. MIT News spoke with Machover about “Philadelphia Voices.”​

MIT composer Tod Machover along with writers Jayda Hepburn and Cameron Coles, who contributed texts used in the libretto of Machover’s new symphony, “Philadelphia Voices,” which premiered in Philadelphia on April 5, 2018.
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Image: Christina Rissell

On Sept. 9, 2015, the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra offered the world premiere performance of Tod Machover's Symphony for Lucerne.

Over the course of a year, Machover invited people to use their smart phones to record sounds from around Lucerne. Machover himself returned to the city each month to record conversations, environmental sounds and musical performances. He then assembled the sounds at the MIT Media Lab, where he heads the Opera of the Future group, and incorporated them into his orchestral composition.

The Symphony for Lucerne is very literally meant to represent the sounds of the city, offering an aural portrait as experienced by Lucerne's residents and visitors.

​Listen to the full performance at the top of this page, and hear WQXR's Jeff Spurgeon interview Machover about the project below.

Host Scott Simon talks to MIT professor of music and media Tod Machover about his work with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He crowdsourced street sounds gathered by local Torontonians and blended them with traditional instruments to create an orchestra.