This is the “visual score” of the final version of A TORONTO SYMPHONY which will be premiered this Saturday, March 9th. It has been an amazing journey, and I can’t wait to share the work with my new friends in Toronto, and with YOU! – Tod
Tag Archives: Sounds of the city
CN Tower lighting pays tribute to World Première of Tod Machover’s A Toronto Symphony
Check out this press release from the CN Tower!!
March 9, 2013, approx. 9pm
March 7, 2013 (Toronto, ON) Toronto residents and all those within sight of the CN Tower are invited to watch a unique CN Tower light show synchronized to the world première of A Toronto Symphony: Concerto for Composer and City – the first symphony created for, by and about Torontonians.
Tune in to TSO.CA for a live webcast where you will hear a live audio feed of the concert as well as see visuals, which will include graphics, video, and photos illustrating both the piece and the process of its creation, alongside a live video feed of the CN Tower’s light show. The complete concert is performed live at Roy Thomson Hall on March 9, 2013 beginning 8pm, and the webcast and CN Tower lighting will be live with the A Toronto Symphony: Concerto for Composer and City première at approximately 9pm. Continue reading
Workshop with Toronto Kids (Video)
Check out this video posted by the Toronto Symphony about Tod Machover’s workshop with Toronto city school children. We’re blown away by how the kids speak about their composing concepts.
Faces of “A Toronto Symphony”
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Partial portrait gallery of Torontonians who recorded short stories and comments on Tuesday at the Regent’s Park School of Music, so that their voices can be in heard – literally – in A TORONTO SYMPHONY. I’ll be combining voices and melodies tomorrow; what fun! Come hear it all in Toronto on March 9th (http://tinyurl.com/TodTorontoNC).
– Tod
A guide to the Constellation app (video)
Now I want to show you a brand new app. It’s called Constellation. You’ll be able to experiment with it between now and the beginning of January. It was designed and written by Media Lab graduate student Akito van Troyer. I’ve taken some of the music I’ve composed for A Toronto Symphony, as well as many of the recorded sounds you’ve sent in. Constellation allows us to put those sounds up on the screen and mix them into your own collages, textures and pieces, just by experimenting with moving the mouse and combining these things. I’d love it if you’d go out and try it. Your collages and textures will give me new ideas about how to combine all the musical elements of the piece, and what you do might very well become a part of “A Toronto Symphony”…..which I am composing and collating at this very moment. Continue reading
Check them out: Toronto kids compose!
Hundreds of children from Toronto’s schools responded to our call for original musical compositions about their city. These were composed using Hyperscore, under the skillful mentorship of an extraordinary group of music teachers. We have posted a few here. Give them a listen!
Culture Days – photos
Tod was in Toronto on September 29 to lead a workshop with members of the Toronto Youth Orchestra, as part of Culture Days festivities. Here are some photos of Tod directing the talented young instrumentalists through a collaborative exploration of “sounds of Toronto.” Video and audio coming soon!
Using Hyperscore for “A Toronto Symphony”
Over the summer, a couple dozen Toronto music teachers convened workshops to develop an exciting new music curriculum incorporating Hyperscore, a music composition software that uses a graphical annotation interface enabling anyone to express themselves creatively through music. Here’s Tod Machover explaining how the curriculum is now being taught to several hundred Toronto school kids.
From Tod Machover:
Now that I’ve collected a range of sounds from you all, we’re ready to begin using Hyperscore to create music!
Hyperscore uses lines and color as opposed to typical musical notation to express musical ideas so that people of all ranges of skills and musical training can compose. Over the past months, we have had the opportunity to work with teachers from the Toronto School District to create curriculum that will encourage students to compose with Hyperscore. This spans across middle and high school levels, and we’re hoping to connect younger and older students to collaborate on the same pieces. Younger students can create melodies that older students can combine into compositions and send back to the middle school for reflection and thoughts on improvement. Eventually, these projects will become part of the Toronto Symphony project.
Don’t worry—if you aren’t a current student, I still want you to be involved. This is the link to Hyperscore: http://hyperscore.com. I will be sending out ideas for sections of the final piece or small Hyperscore fragments for you to work on alone and with the other participants of the project so we can reflect together on the best melodies and short compositions for the final piece. Let’s get started!
Yours, Tod
If you’d like to try your hand at composing with Hyperscore, the company is making the software available to “A Toronto Symphony” participants at a discount. Please email june@harmonylinemusic.com to receive the discount code.
From Glenn Gould to Hip Hop – in photos
Tod Machover was in Toronto this past weekend. On Saturday he gave a presentation and cello performance at the Glenn Gould Variations symposium at the University of Toronto. Sunday morning found him atop the CN Tower with a group of energetic youngsters from FYI Kids. Here are some photos from Tod’ Facebook. Looking forward to some audio!!
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- Spent a lovely Sunday morning at the base of the CN Tower (Toronto) with the fabulous FYI group of young hip-hop artists and mentors, experimenting and vocalizing for A TORONTO SYMPHONY.
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- That thing on my back is a cello, something I haven’t carried around for years. This lovely instrument – graciously lent by Toronto Symphony cellist David Hetherington – allowed me to “perform” sounds of Toronto at Saturday’s big celebration in honor of what would have been Glenn Gould’s 80th. Majestic, quirky, and sometimes bittersweet event for this genius who influenced and presaged so much, but also became a more and more lonely recluse.
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- Glenn Gould – ummm Rick Miller – at this weekend’s wonderfully eclectic Glenn Gould event at U of Toronto’s Convocation Hall. Robert Wilson, Atom Egoyan, Lang Lang, the Lombard Twins, etc., etc…..and me on cello, for the first time live in a VERY long time. Only for Glenn Gould:)
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- Toronto’s CN Tower where we experimented with all kinds of vocal acrobatics – from screaming to whispering to multiple renditions of O Canada! – with the young hip-hop artists of the FYI collective. About as fun and inspiring a Sunday morning as I’ve spent in a long time. We all got to go to the tippy top of the Tower after singing-recording.
A Toronto Symphony Workshop – Sept. 29
Join Tod Machover on Saturday, September 29th, in the South lobby of Roy Thomson Hall where he’ll be experimenting in creating the sounds of Toronto with musicians from the Toronto Symphony Youth Orchestra. Tod will share his ideas about the beyond-crowd sourced composition and give you a chance to hear the music as it is being created and well before its premiere at the New Creations Festival in March 2013.
This is truly a unique opportunity to create something new that represents what the city of Toronto means to each of us. Details here.