ARCO - February 16 at 7:30pm in NYC

Sympho unveiled ARCO on opening night of the Park Avenue Armory's Tune-In Music Festival. We are honored to have received this commission for what New York's WQXR has named The Top New Music Event of 2011.

Sympho’s ARCO is a modern creation myth that speaks of the human condition; it is at once a musical exploration of an architectural icon and a sonic voyage through time and space. The music is a journey in the landscape of the human soul, where we witness the soul’s evolution in the place where the struggle toward divinity and grace finds its battleground.

Each section of ARCO has been created and is musically directed by one or more primary composers endeavoring to compose music for Sympho’s ranged orchestral forces and electronica, while additionally selecting separate pre-composed pieces for inclusion, or inviting the other composers to create simultaneous voices or effects within their own music. The result is a multi-layered sound experience where perspectives overlap and the audience is enveloped by the experience of hearing three or even four compositions in concert with each other. Performing composers Paul Fowler, Bora Yoon, and Sympho Artistic Director Paul Haas are sculptors of sound whose work sonically and visually accentuates the unique spatial design of the Park Avenue Armory’s vast Drill Hall. ARCO, Sympho’s newest concert event, features the 53-member Sympho orchestra, vocal quartet New York Polyphony, and bass-baritone Charles Perry Sprawls.

Watch a full-length HD video of the concert here:

For even more in-depth discussion of ARCO, please visit Sympho's blog

Read the program notes here. Highly recommended!
Option-click (Mac) or right-click (PC) to download.

ARCO

by
Sympho
Paul Haas, Artistic Director

Paul Fowler | Paul Haas | Bora Yoon, Music Directors and Composers
Ruth Pongstaphone, Staging Director and Visual Design
Bora Yoon, Soprano and Multi-Instrumentalist
Paul Fowler, Laptop and Voice
Charles Perry Sprawls, Bass-Baritone
New York Polyphony, Vocal Quartet
Sympho, Orchestra
Paul Haas, Conductor
Sarah Kidd | Geoff McDonald, Assistant Conductors

Premiered February 16, 2011 at 7:30 P.M.
Park Avenue Armory
643 Park Avenue
New York City