If you’re looking for an auditory adventure this weekend, there are two events involving faculty well worth attending: Friday night’s MISTIC concert and Saturday night’s Site & Sound installation.
First up is MISTIC. The final event of the School of Music/Open Space collaboration with Seattle-based sound sculptor and inventor Trimpin on the (CanonX+4:33=100) piano-based sculptural installation, the MISTIC concert promises to be both a fascinating and entertaining evening.
Preparing to get MISTIC: (from left) Darren Miller, Andy Schloss and Steeve Bjornson. Photo: Kristy Farkas
MISTIC—or, Music Intelligence and Sound Technology Interdisciplinary Collective—will feature Dr. Andrew Schloss and UVic students putting into practice the “unique methodologies” they’ve developed over the course of the (CanonX+4:33=100) exhibit, as they “perform” the installation as one enormous musical instrument. (Last Saturday’s exhibit discussion by Darren Miller focused on the “compositional opportunities and challenges of writing for a Trimpin installation,” so it’s bound to be quite the night.) Remember, these aren’t really pianos anymore, more a series of deconstructed and enhanced piano-based constructs into which the MISTIC performers can plug their computers in order to create their own unique style of music.
The MISTIC concert starts at 8pm Friday, April 27, at Open Space, 510 Fort Street. Tickets are $15 or $10 for Open Space members, students & seniors
Then on Saturday night, it’s the Royal BC Museum’s quite literally fascinating sounding Site & Sound installation. Dubbed “a unique festival of all things auditory,” Site & Sound features an impressive lineup of musicians, poets and sound artists who will be performing after-hours in and around the various RBCM dioramas and displays.
Will new Visual Arts associate professor and sound artist Paul Walde be in the submarine? Will the Victoria Phonographers Union—featuring concert manager Kristy Farkas—be in the old town? Will flautist and School of Music alum Kathy Rogers be in the rainforest? Will Victoria Poet Laureate Janet Rogers be in the longhouse? Will spoken word artists Missie Peters and Dave Morris be riding the wooly mammoth? You won’t know if you don’t go!
All of the nine participating artists and groups have specially crafted sound for this event, which will provide a unique way of experiencing the RBCM. In addition to those already mentioned, the other performers are sound artist Tina Pearson, bluegrass duo Garrett Tompson and Shanti Bremer, Chinese group the Victoria Gum Sing Musical Society and local performance artist Peter Morin, of northern BC’s Tahltan Nation.
Whatever your taste in musical expression, it’s a safe bet you won’t hear either of these two shows again!
Site & Sound starts at 7pm Saturday, April 28, at the Royal BC Museum, 675 Belleville Street. Tickets are $15.