“Wanna remix a symphony for the TSO to perform? There’s an app for that (sort of),” writes Jessica Wong on Friday (12/7) on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation blog The Buzz. “Composer Tod Machover and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra have been hard at work on an ‘interactive symphony’—a composition inspired by the city that also incorporates public input. A Toronto Symphony: Concerto for Composer and City was first announced in June and since then Machover has compiled a collection of everyday city sounds recorded and submitted by the public, kept everyone updated on his progress via blog posts and worked with local music students on the developing piece. The latest step is Friday’s launch of a digital app that Machover created with his team at the MIT Media Lab. It allows regular Joes to mix and rearrange certain sections of the musical work-in-progress. The first section at play is the finale: a movement dubbed Toronto Dances. Through the Media Scores app, aspiring musicians (or even just curious folks) can, for instance, fiddle with A Toronto Symphony’s harmony line or change the accompaniment. … Machover and helpers will be taking all these different submissions and wrapping them into the final score. ‘What I’m interested in right now [is] ‘What’s the relationship between professional musicians—of whatever background or style—and the general public?’ he explained Thursday.” The Toronto Symphony will perform the work’s world premiere next March.
Posted December 10, 2012
