Through Tue, December 31
We welcome you to Strathmore's 16-acre campus for Sonic Trails. Adding depth to our multi-dimensional programming, this free, self-led audio experience reflects our dedication to multifaceted and community-centered arts. We hope that Sonic Trails provides you respite from our busy world and an opportunity to connect with the arts in a new way.
Sonic Trails can be enjoyed through your headphones as you walk through the paths and hills of Strathmore. Walk slowly and enjoy!
HOW IT WORKS
Download the free app and make sure you have a set of headphones to connect to your phone. Once the app is open you will see your location and a series of rings that identify the areas on campus where the sound experiences are located. What you hear changes based on your location.
You will need headphones for this experience!
The music will not play through your phone's speaker.
As you walk around the Strathmore campus, you will experience various sections of the composition more prominently in different locations. For example, the walk path on the campus might take you through individual sections of the orchestra like the strings or horns, while the gazebo area features the full orchestral sound. The app will also indicate what section you are experiencing so you can pause and listen for specific themes and instruments.
We encourage you to take a seat on one of the benches or Adirondack chairs scattered throughout campus to linger and enjoy the music.
Read more about Sonic Trails in our magazine feature.
Strathmore extends its gratitude to Kathleen Knepper for generously supporting Sonic Trails.
About the Music
The Imagined Forest
By Grace-Evangeline Mason
Recorded by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
Co-commissioned by BBC Radio 3 and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
The Imagined Forest (2021) is an orchestral piece that takes listeners on a mystical journey through nature and the unknown. A symbol of refuge, danger, transformation, and adventure in fairy tales, fantasy, and folklore, the piece recognizes the forest’s ethereal qualities, guiding listeners to a place that is both intimate and surreal.
Inspired by the intricate collage work of Berlin-based artist Clare Celeste Börsch, who creates imaginary worlds filled with foliage and fauna, the music weaves atmospheric textures and fragmented melodic lines. Tumbling passages evoking the liveliness of nature are juxtaposed with interludes of stillness, representing expansive clearings. The central musical theme wanders through the piece, pausing in enclosed spaces as if bathed in shimmering light canopy and dreamlike dances.
Like visual art, music invites individual interpretation, allowing each listener to embark on a unique journey through their own fictional forest. Whether it blooms with flora, captivates with color, or darkens with storm clouds, it reflects the listener’s imagination.
About the Creators
ABOUT THE HOLLADAY BROTHERS
Brothers Hays and Ryan Holladay (Composer/Technologist) create innovative music experiences that celebrate the act of discovery. With a shared background in composition and music production, their projects span a range of fields and disciplines and frequently invite user interaction, blurring the lines between performer and participant. From sound and video installations to mobile apps, their expansive body of work represents an intricate blend of art and technology that reimagines how we interact with and experience sound. The Holladay Brothers have garnered critical acclaim as sound pioneers and multi-dimensional storytellers.
The Holladay Brothers are renowned for their location-aware composition: music created and mapped to a physical space, released exclusively as apps, using a mobile device’s GPS to dynamically alter the music as the listener traverses a landscape. Their first production in 2011, "The National Mall" mapped to the park in Washington, DC, was described by the Washington Post as "magical… like using GPS to navigate a dream" and was included in their list of the year's top albums (a first for an app).
The Holladay Brothers have spoken at universities and institutions worldwide and have been featured in numerous media outlets including The New York Times, BBC World Service, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, WIRED and Fast Company.
CHISA YAMAGUCHI (Producer)
Born into a multicultural family, Chisa Yamaguchi (Producer) simultaneously celebrates her passion for tradition and innovation. Her desire to discover, collaborate and deepen her connection with people, place and planet has taken her to six continents, embarking on community service projects, undertaking family pilgrimages and gracing historic stages and theaters as a professional dancer for over a decade.
Driven by intuitive nurturing and a zealous need to contribute joy to the world, she avidly advocates for interdisciplinary art and collaborative practices as means to dissolve perceived barriers to open emotional and physical pathways to truth, justice and love. Fervently on a mission to align her personal power with her professional values, Chisa brings her caring presence, grounded discipline and deep listening to everything she undertakes and creates. She celebrated her stage directorial debut with Lincoln Center’s 2021 Restart Stages Series and continues her role as creative producer on several location-aware app experiences across the US in partnership with Sozo artist The Holladay Brothers. Chisa also closely collaborates with GRAMMY-winning music and media artists Alphabet Rockers as a creative producer and strategic partner centering impact and community.
ABOUT SOZO ARTISTS
We believe in the role of artists as thought partners and catalysts for innovation. With art and technology, social impact and immersive arts as our three core creative tracks, our global portfolio spans the spectrum of film, digital content, educational residencies, live performances and site-reactive activations.
Founded and led by women, our team of world class artists and producers partner with brands, arts institutions, creative agencies and civic entities, building artistic and cultural bridges through bold, perspective-changing projects, to invoke a vibrant, trusting and compassionate society.
