Introducing The Imagined Forest as an immersive experience!
Recently, Grace-Evangeline Mason visited Strathmore Music Center, Maryland, to experience their Sonic Trails: an immersive sound experience. Visitors traverse Strathmore’s 16-acre campus using a free GPS app downloaded to their phone to hear different parts of The Imagined Forest as they move through each space.
The music is adapted from a Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) recording of The Imagined Forest, who also gave the US premiere of the piece last year under the baton of Jonathon Heyward.
Photo: M3 Mitchell Media & Marketing, LLC
Grace-Evangeline Mason and Jonathon Heyward
Photo: M3 Mitchell Media & Marketing, LLC
Photo: M3 Mitchell Media & Marketing, LLC
Photo: M3 Mitchell Media & Marketing, LLC
As you walk around the Strathmore campus, you will experience various sections of the piece more prominently in different locations. For example, the walk path on the campus might take you through individual sections of the orchestra like the strings or horns, while the gazebo area features the full orchestral sound. The app will also indicate what section you are experiencing so you can pause and listen for specific themes and instruments. The trail creates a unique version of the piece for each visitor as you move through the space: no two people are going to have the same experience. This resonates with the piece as, like visual art, music invites individual interpretation, allowing each listener to embark on a unique journey through their own fictional forest. Whether it blooms with flora, captivates with color, or darkens with storm clouds, The Imagined Forest reflects the listener’s own imagination.
Strathmore’s Sonic Trails experience was created and mapped by the Holladay Brothers, who pioneered this idea of “location-aware music,” as they call it. “The Imagined Forest is very evocative and has beautiful layering and separate sections, which allowed the Holladay Brothers to create distinctly different audio experiences throughout campus,” Joi Brown, Strathmore’s artistic director and vice president of programming, says.
The sweeping installation is active through December. You can learn more about the Sonic Trail at Strathmore here, and read their magazine feature here.
Grace-Evangeline Mason and Jonathon Heyward
Photo: M3 Mitchell Media & Marketing, LLC
