A Galaxy of Suns
2016
Created in collaboration with Amanda Cole and Warren Armstrong
36-part choral performance, smart phone app, staging, lighting program and sound design
Photography by: Lucy Parakhina, Geoff Gleave, Michaela Gleave
Choir: The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra Chorus
A Galaxy of Suns ‘plays’ the stars as they rise and set over 360˚ of the horizon. Tracking the Earth’s motions through space, the work documents in real-time the audience’s precise position in relation to the stars, sonifying stellar data to create a sound and visual composition unique to their location in space and time. A Galaxy of Suns works with parameters such as location on the horizon, brightness, size, age and chemical composition of stars, and translates them into sonic and aesthetic variables including rhythm, pitch, volume, panning, colour and light intensity.
The performance features a 36-part chorus, singing the stars as they rise and set over the horizon. A specifically created app delivers microtonal sonic cues directly to the 36 individual parts, in real-time for the location. Performers are spatially mapped across the performance venue to represent location across the galaxy, with the parts divided according to the ‘pitch’ of each individual star: the slower burning cooler red stars corresponding to the bass notes, and the faster burning hot blue stars corresponding to the upper registers. Sampled tuned percussion accompanies the chorus, with large-scale lighting tracking the progress of the choristers as they sing their way across the sky; the composition building until all 360 degrees of the horizon is represented in sound and light.
A Galaxy of Suns premiered as the opening event for the 2016 Dark MOFO festival in Hobart, with the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra Chorus singing the stars live. A Galaxy of Suns had also featured as part of the 2016 Bristol Biennial, UK, 4 & 8 September.
“the assembled audience stared in slack-jawed awe”
“In their silver cloaks the Chorus wove a spell on Macquarie Point… a bridge between Hobart and the heavens”
Clem Barstow, The Guardian
“an extraordinary choral work”
“With the combination of occasion, location, a still, clear sky, costumes, lighting and captivating performance, it made for a spectacular opening to Dark Mofo.”
Andrew Ross, No Visible Means
Produced in association with Experimenta Media Arts.
Launched in association with Dark Mofo, Tasmania, and Bristol Biennial, UK.
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
A Galaxy of Suns is supported by the NSW Government through Arts NSW.
