“Making the rounds in Orange County over the last year, Narong Prangcharoen may have looked more like Ken Burns than Beethoven,” writes Michael Miller in Wednesday’s (1/14) Los Angeles Times. “The Pacific Symphony’s composer-in-residence has interviewed people about their cultural heritage and spirituality. He’s taken pictures, recorded video and audio, visited Disneyland and other landmarks…. Once Prangcharoen”—a native of Thailand and a resident of Kansas City, Missouri—“has gotten a handle on what makes Orange County tick, he’ll have a possibly more daunting task: condensing it all into less than half an hour. The symphony has commissioned him to create an anthem of sorts for the region, and the piece, part of an initiative titled ‘OC in Unison,’ is scheduled to premiere Oct. 4, the opening night of the 2015-16 season…. Between now and March 31, residents are invited to submit”—via email to OCinUnison@pacificsymphony.org or posted with the hashtag #OCinUnison on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram—“artifacts of any medium that answer two questions: ‘What makes Orange County home?’ and ‘What unites the people of Orange County?’ ” Entries may take the form of a story, song, dance, photography, art, video, or social media.
To read Symphony magazine’s 2013 article about crowdsourced compositions, including Tod Machover’s city-symphony series, click here.
Posted January 14, 2015
Pictured: Composer Narong Prangcharoen
