Department of Music

May 3, 2016 at Old Cabell Hall
6:00pm, sonic architecture sound walk opens (ongoing)
7:00pm, “Palladian Echoes" performance in the Old Cabell Hall Lobby within the installation
This event precedes the Digitalis Festival Concert in Old Cabell Hall at 8pm

This sound installation brings recordings of Palladio's Venetian masterpiece, San Giorgio Maggiore into and around Old Cabell Hall, creating a multichannel sound walk for listeners in the context of the UVA Lawn. Jefferson’s architectural works were inspired by Palladian design, and this piece sets up a Palladian Echo in proximity to Jefferson’s Rotunda. Sound Cast of San Giorgio Maggiore is a collaboration between Dr. Matthew Burtner of Music and Dr. Anselmo Canfora of Architecture, created thanks to the generous support from the Vice Provost for the Arts Faculty Arts Research Award.

Architectural structures, associated with permanence in the human time scale, are actually dynamic, active, flexing systems that change constantly in response to the environment. Music technology allows us to capture this change as resonance and vibration. We can listen to buildings like giant musical instruments, played by the environment. We recorded the San Giorgio Maggiore using an elaborate multi-microphone array inside, outside, above and underneath the building, a technique we describe as sound casting. Using specialized microphones we recorded the foundation of the building underwater, inside the walls, outside the bell tower, and throughout the impressive interior of the building.