Pro'ject Sound is an innovative performance project featuring stunning photography and live piano music. Images are carefully selected to collaborate with classical repertoire and are projected via powerpoint onto a large screen overtop the piano. The two main themes of sound and sight are linked through specially designed lighting, creating a profoundly evocative experience.
Pro'ject Sound is a new way of hearing imagery and seeing music.
Pro'ject Sound was first conceived during a concert tour in the enchanting and inspiring Swedish countryside in 2006. Artistic director Sarah Hagen wanted to explore the idea of using large-scale projected images with live performance. She was fascinated with the combination of still photography with the movement of both the performing artist and the living music.
To give you an idea, one segment of Pro'ject Sound is based on a series of pieces by Debussy. The show is based on spectrum both for the eyes and the ears. The pieces move seamlessly from one to the other, progressing throughout the show from violet to red, covering all the colours of the rainbow.
Rather than using extremely literal pictures, Sarah tried to find photographs which emphasized colour and line, in the same way music uses these elements to conjure up complex and mysterious parts of the psyche. The eyes are drawn to minute details in each photograph, in the same way each small musical moment creates a larger emotive picture.
There were in total over 200 photographs in this particular show, each projected via powerpoint onto a large screen overtop the piano. To find these photos, Sarah and her Director of Photography, Rick Reeve, sifted through thousands of images submitted by an accomplished camera club association.
In the weeks after the premiere, members of the audience approached her with their thoughts and impressions. Several told her they had attended the concert to see the photographs. It was their first time ever attending a classical music performance, and they unanimously said that this one experience had started a love for classical music. It had never occurred to her that it would be the first time people had ever heard this music performed live.
In this way, the original goal of Pro'ject Sound is beginning to be accomplished. Pro'ject Sound: A new way of hearing images. A new way of seeing music.
Pro'ject Sound can be booked as a prepared performance, with photographs prearranged. The prepared performance has three 40 minute options, and up to two can be chosen to create a programme.
Option 1: Images which carry the listener through the entire spectrum of the rainbow with the music of Claude Debussy.
Option 2: An exploration of the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff, using photographic themes of contrast, balance, pattern, and rhythm.
Option 3: Frédéric Chopin's Opus 28 Preludes, examining perfection of form and harmony with images of human expression and the world around us.
Alternatively, individual arts councils and theatres may choose to submit their own locally produced images as per the technical guidelines and creative suggestions of the artistic director,
Sarah Hagen. The result is a highly marketable event combining community talent and spirit with world-class musicianship.
For inquiries and bookings, please contact:
Sarah Hagen, Artistic Director
info@sarahhagen.com
