Carol Szymanski “The Phonemophonic Alphabet Brass Band”

Brookfield Place (Courtyard Gallery and Winter Garden )

This event has ended.

This New Sounds Live series offers a captivating installation, the world premiere of The Phonemophonic Alphabet Brass Band by sculptor and multimedia artist, Carol Szymanski, in addition to an eclectic range of musical performances from artists, composers, and traditional musicians.

Presented in totality for the first time, The Phonemophonic Alphabet Brass Band consists of 26 brass sculptures forming a three-dimensional font, which have also been crafted to function as musical instruments. Each horn sculpture (or “phonemophone,” as Szymanski calls them) produces a unique range of tones generated by its particular letter shape. Since each horn represents a letter, they can “spell out” written texts by the order in which they are sounded—translating linguistic messages into musical terms. By the same token, they allow for something conceived of as a purely musical sequence to be thought of instead as a sequence of letters, perhaps a code. The result is an abstraction of language that opens a new genre, exploring sound, language, and visual elements in a striking new synthesis.

Ben Neill, a popular composer and trumpeter, will perform MANITOGA, featuring eight of Szymanski’s horns as well as Neill’s own electroacoustic mutantrumpet, and STEAK abc, which features all of the Szymanski horns on Wednesday, October 11. A Tribute to Pauline Oliveros performed by the Darmstadt Ensemble and led by Ben Neill and Zach Layton on October 12 will pay homage to the experimental composer who passed away last year and was central to the development of electronic art music, as well as the theory of Deep Listening. The instruments in Szymanski’s installation will be played throughout the performances on October 11 and 12, creating an immersive surround sound experience. The series will conclude on October 13 with Colin Stetson’s enchanting performance of Sorrow: A re-imagining of Górecki’s Third Symphony.