What fun! WQXR (105.9FM in New York City) ran a piece on its blog today on “Top Five Musical Pieces for Toys” that includes Tod Machover’s “Toy Symphony”. The full hour-long program on John Schaefer’s New Sounds can be heard here.
Not to be confused with the previous work of the same name, Tod Machover’s Toy Symphony is both a composition and a project to introduce children. Machover, a professor at MIT, created electronic musical “toys” that children play as part of the works that were included in the project. Machover’s symphony, which also features children playing his electronic inventions, was the finale of the program. Toy Symphony toured throughout the world, making a stop at the World Financial Center in Lower Manhattan in 2003.
Check out the Toy Symphony project website.
Opera of the Future 