You can take part today in the latest experiment for the Toronto Symphony project? In a message posted on the project website Tod Machover explains:
Welcome to an experiment in collaborative improvisation!
On Tuesday, April 24th from 3:00–5:00 pm EST, we’ll be offering the possibility for you to join us at the MIT Media Lab to help shape an ongoing improvisation, designed by me and performed by pianist Tae Kim.
Listen to the 10 music fragments below and use the sliders to express your preferences. An ongoing update will be presented visually to Tae, and he will respond by favoring the types of music which emerge. The overall effect will be of a kind of collective musical memory, with well-known melodies, harmonies and textures intertwining, sometimes recognizable and often combining and colliding in unexpected ways.
Sounds cool! The site explains that “this experiment is part of the process of testing the tools and methods for creating a new symphony in collaboration with the citizens of Toronto, to be premiered by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra at the New Creations Festival in March 2013.”
Visit the event page to participate in real time. To follow this project as it unfolds, please sign up to receive email alerts.
This improvisation is based on a play about memory—currently running in Cambridge, MA—for which I composed the music and at which Tae Kim performs live. It’s running through May 13th, so come see it if you have a chance.
Opera of the Future 