Electronic Opera Uses Physical Spaces To Connect Narrative With Sound

Pullitzer Prize winning composer Lewis Spratlan.

Back in 2005, composer Lewis Spratlan and I began work on an opera inspired by Louis Kahn. Kahn, who excelled in music and once considered becoming a composer, was especially cognizant of how sound works in a physical space. “Space has tonality,” he often said. Kallick, a professor of music at Amherst College, made recordings of the “acoustic envelope” at several Kahn buildings, which were employed in composing the work’s prelude and interludes.

Composer Jenny Kallick

Key elements from Spratlan’s music were integrated into this electro-acoustic music, creating a seamless connection between the narrative world of the characters and the sounding spaces that filled their dreams. Opening in the ruins of Rome and ending with the healing waters at Kahn’s Salk Institute,  ARCHITECT: A Chamber Opera narrates the dramatic arc of Kahn’s journey from dreamer to master builder.

Click the link below to read about Spratlan discussing the project with Frederick Peters, board chairman of New Music USA,  which supports composers, performers, and audiences of new American music.   For the Silo, Jenny Kallick- Amherst College.

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