Tod Machover explains the ideas behind his series of collaborative “city symphonies” in this article he penned for the classical music publication The Limelight:
I have embarked on a series of “city symphonies” with the idea of creating musical portraits of places, inviting the collaboration of the people who live there. Toronto (Toronto Symphony Orchestra) and Edinburgh (Edinburgh International Festival and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra) were the first two places – both works premiered in 2013 – and Between the Desert and the Deep Blue Sea: A Symphony for Perth (commissioned by the Perth International Arts Festival) is the third.
Building on concepts and techniques developed for the first two projects, I started my Perth investigations in September 2013, first by reading about the city and surroundings and discussing concepts with my colleagues at the Perth Festival, then by visiting in person. While in Perth for two weeks, I explored the city extensively (binaural recorder in hand), met people from all walks of life, listened to – and improvised with – a diverse range of musicians (from indie rockers to classical instrumentalists to laptop improvisors to didgeridoo masters and more), and supervised workshops throughout the greater Perth area with students from elementary to high school using our Hyperscore graphical composition software.
The new work, “Between the Desert and the Deep Blue Sea,” premieres at the Perth Festival on March 1, 2014.
Opera of the Future 