This interview with Tod Machover by Peter Stenshoe has been transcribed and edited by Frank C. Bertrand and published recently on Scribd. There's a wealth of wonderful information here about a series of eerie coincidences in the genesis of VALIS. Tod speaks about why Philip K. Dick's most personal novel resonated so deeply with him: …
Rehearsing Festival City
From Tod Machover'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.
Inside “Festival City” with Wired UK
Wired UK posted this excellent article today that provides an in-depth look at the Festival City project. Included are detailed descriptions of how the music apps work. We loved this: To compose Festival City, which Machover hopes will bring out the contrasts of the city, Machover first invited people to submit raw material that reminded of …
New York Times features Opera of the Future
The M.I.T. Media Lab Opera of the Future group's work is the subject of a full-page article by Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim in the August 16th issue of the New York Times. It's an engagingly written piece that covers the history of Tod Machover's work in music composition and technology, from hyperinstruments to "Death and the …
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Repertoire Remix (VIDEO)
Last month, composer Tod Machover joined an online audience together with pianist Tae Kim in an experience that fused Web-based interaction with a live piano performance. This demo centered on the Cauldron app built at the Media Lab for the "Festival City" project commissioned by the Edinburgh International Festival. The app is populated with the sounds of …
Things are heating up in Edinburgh!
Tod was in Edinburgh at the end of May to launch 'Cauldron', the latest app for his collaborative symphony orchestra project commissioned by the Edinburgh International Festival. He met with hundreds of school kids, was serenaded by bagpipes (which he now professes a new fondness for), and explored the vast network of subterranean tunnels underneath …
Instrumentation for “A Toronto Symphony”
In case you are wondering why Tod didn't emerge from his barn-studio for the past two months, he was busy orchestrating "A Toronto Symphony." In this new SoundNotion interview, Tod explains his work process, along with sundry other hot topics from the Media Lab and Opera of the Future. (The interview was recorded over Skype, and you …
Hot off the press! “A Toronto Symphony”
Woo hoo! "A Toronto Symphony" is finished!! Here's the first page of the score. Tod worked non-stop orchestrating it over the past month, with a major push in the middle of the weekend blizzard to assemble the complete score. He received invaluable help from a hardy band of Media Lab students and producers who trekked through thigh-deep snow …
Musing on a Boston Symphony Orchestra concert
From Tod Machover's Facebook post today: From DJ Poet to the BSO:) Went to Symphony Hall last night to hear the Boston Symphony play a French-Russian program of Dutilleux, Tchaikovsky, Stravinsky and Ravel, conducted by Alan Gilbert. The revelation for me was "La Valse" by Ravel, well-known of course, but ear-expanding after all my current …
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Smartplanet Q&A with Tod Machover
"In 50 years, and probably well before that, every piece of music will be some kind of collaboration." As the ambitious "A Toronto Symphony" project heads into its final phase, journalist Molly Petrilla checked in with composer Tod Machover for an update. In this excellent Smartplanet interview, Tod describes his motivation and vision for this unprecedented …
Opera of the Future 