Adam and Benjamin. Photo credit: Dan Brakke.

Gossip Orchestra

Gossip Orchestra is an interactive installation consisting of twenty musicians positioned in a large circle. Audience members will have the opportunity to step within this circle and take the role of “conductor” and “composer.” The conductor will have the option to physically activate or deactivate any of the musicians in any combination by using a full body control board. The musicians will be silent until cued by the conductor. Colored lights appearing in front of each of the performers will signify when any individual musician is turned “on” or “off.” Once turned on, the musician will be free to improvise music. The conductor will then be able to selectively activate other members of the orchestra, creating an ensemble of two to twenty musicians improvising with one another. The role of “composer” is simultaneously employed in this exercise as each individual that steps in to the Gossip Orchestra circle will have access to a “mood switch” that controls the color of light on the performing ensemble, acting as an emotional guide for the musicians to express in their improvised music. This installation will be audibly, as well as visually, stunning. The universal language of interactive and improvised music will all be controlled by the imagination of the audience. Gossip Orchestra will create a transcendental music experience that your senses have never known.