Minnesota’s oldest arts organization, the Schubert Club, will open its 140th season with a new multi-sensory installation. On September 24-25, Sound Sculpture, an interactive sound and light instrument made up of glowing location-aware blocks, will be at the Landmark Center in St. Paul as part of the Schubert Club Mix series. Each cube in the sculpture represents a note in spatial dimension and time. The public’s interaction and placement of the cubes creates musical structures.
The creators, the Boston-based and trans-disciplinary collective MASARY Studios, describe it as being like “walking onto the staff paper, picking up the notes and moving them around, thereby changing pitch, rhythm, melody and harmony.”
The Sound Sculpture program will include free, interactive visiting hours and two ticketed performances. On Saturday, September 24, Sound Sculpture will be open to the public in the Landmark Center Cortile from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for visitors to explore, play and create music. There will be two live concerts on Sunday at 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. performed with MASARY Studio co-founder and percussionist Ryan Edwards and Twin Cities-based collaborating artists including co-director and cellist Michelle Kinney, STRONG Movement choreographer Darrius Strong, and spoken-word artist Alexei Moon Casselle aka Crescent Moon.
“I am thrilled to be sharing space with this incredible team of artists,” said Edwards. “They have joined me in this inquiry of asking ‘what is an instrument’ as we look at the most human answers to that question. I couldn’t ask for a more interesting, motivated, sincere and fun group of collaborators.”
In its ninth season, Schubert Club Mix is an innovative series that attempts to take the formality out of classical music. The Schubert Club is dedicated to increasing accessibility by inviting audiences to intimate performances with relevant old and new artists who influence the musical landscape of today.
Schubert Club executive and artistic director, Barry Kempton says, “Though we have 140 years of history to honor, Schubert Club is also very much focused on what classical music looks like today and in the future. Sound Sculpture is truly a 21st Century musical instrument that reframes what classical music can be and opens up all sorts of opportunities for music-making.”
Tickets for Sunday performances are $33 and on sale now.