Sound of Charlotte Blog
The Making of Become Ocean
February 11, 2025
Imagine stepping into a space where music surrounds you. Where light shimmers and shifts like the surface of the water. Where sound flows in waves, washing over you from every direction. This is Become Ocean, a groundbreaking immersive concert experience presented by the Charlotte Symphony in partnership with Blumenthal Arts, coming to Blume Studios on February 28 and March 1.
John Luther Adams's Pulitzer Prize-winning composition Become Ocean is a musical exploration of the ocean's vast, mysterious power, and the ecological challenges of rising sea levels. Bringing this powerful concept to life in a way that fully immerses the audience requires a careful blend of artistic vision and technical expertise. Two Creative Directors from Visuell Immersive joined us to discuss how they're working with the Charlotte Symphony's creative team to shape this one-of-a-kind experience.
Creating an Oceanic World
Unlike a traditional concert hall, Blume Studios provides a flexible space where sound and visuals can fully surround the audience."We approached this with simplicity in mind -- not to overwhelm, but to create something elemental," explains Ian Robinson, one of the artistic minds behind Become Ocean. "Water, light, movement, and sound -- all blending into a singular, meditative experience that allows space for each audience member to bring their own 'in ocean' emotions to the surface."
From the moment audiences arrive, they will feel immersed in this world. "In the lobby, the waves greet you -- lapping at the edges, soft but vast, setting the stage for what's to come. But inside the performance space, you're pulled under, into the deep, where everything moves with weight and grace."
At Blume Studios, Ian Robinson (far right) and Aaron McCoy (seated, right) discuss Become Ocean with creative teams from the Charlotte Symphony and Blumenthal Arts.
Merging Music and Motion
To bring this vision to life, the production team is designing projections and lighting that move with the same fluidity as the music. These elements won't serve as just a backdrop, but as an extension of the music itself."The project aims to create a transformative environment that embodies the verb 'become' in Become Ocean by transporting the audience into a contemplative, beautiful, and emotionally connected oceanic space," says Aaron McCoy, Creative Director from Visuell Immersive.
At times, the space will be bathed in deep blues and shifting silvers, mimicking light refracting through water. Elsewhere, projections will ripple across the walls, expanding and contracting with the ebb and flow of the orchestra.
"The way light moves in water is unpredictable -- sometimes a shimmer, sometimes a rush," Robinson says. "Our projections mimic that fluidity, creating an environment that doesn't dictate but suggests, allowing the audience's imagination to take over."
"This isn't just a concert; it's a journey."
Floating Between Sound and Light
Rather than simply illustrating an oceanic landscape, the production invites audiences to experience the sensation of drifting within it."This isn't just a concert; it's a journey," Robinson explains. "We wanted the audience to feel like they are adrift, floating between sound and light, between the surface and the depths, with no clear beginning or end -- just the pulse of the ocean carrying them."
McCoy adds, "By the end, the light dissolves into an infinite fade, a slow retreat into silence. The ocean remains -- vast, unknowable, and ever-moving."
Experience Become Ocean
Join us for this immersive performance of Become Ocean at Blume Studios on February 28 and March 1.
... Read more
Mario Bauzá, “The Original Mambo King”
February 4, 2025
If you know the mambo, rumba, or cha-cha, you have the Afro-Cuban jazz musician, bandleader, and composer Mario Bauzá to thank. Born in Havana, Cuba in 1911, Bauzá was among the first musicians to spread Afro-Cuban music in the United States through the New York City jazz scene during the Harlem Renaissance. By collaborating with orchestra musicians like Dizzy Gillespie, Chano Pozo, and Machito to create Afro-Cuban jazz combinations, "The Original Mambo King" cemented West African influences in jazz music, popularizing the new fusion and transforming the future of an American genre.
A clarinet prodigy raised by Spanish godparents in Cuba, Bauzá was trained in classical music from a young age and was only 9 years old when he held a chair as bass clarinetist in the Havana Philharmonic Orchestra in 1922. He later joined dance bands, and as a teenager, he traveled with Antonio María Romeu's charanga ensemble to New York City in 1927, where Harlem's community made a life-changing impact on the impressionable musician. "I fell in love with jazz then," Bauzá later recalled to DownBeat magazine.
Determined to return to New York, he picked up saxophone to play full time in jazz clubs but found dwindling employment. When the opportunity opened for a trumpet player to record with the Orquesta Don Azpiazú in 1930, the story goes that an inspired Bauzá told singer Antonio Machín, "If you buy me a trumpet I'll play for you." With just three weeks of practice, Bauzá went into the studio and recorded "La Mulata Rumbera." He was hired as the lead trumpeter for Chick Webb's Orchestra in 1933, which brought him closer to the thriving music community where he would find inspiration and create fusion.
After joining the Cab Calloway Orchestra in 1938, Bauzá convinced Calloway to hire a talented fellow trumpeter he met during his time in Chick Webb's Orchestra -- Dizzy Gillespie. As the connection developed between Bauzá and Gillespie, a new musical fusion followed, intertwining Gillespie's bebop with Afro-Cuban polyrhythms and Pan-American styles. Gillespie later reflected, "with Mario Bauzá in the [Cab Calloway] band, I really became interested in bringing Latin and especially Afro-Cuban influences into my music...No one was playing that type of music where the bass player, instead of saying, 'boom, boom, boom, boom,' broke up the rhythm, 'boom-be, boom-be, boom-be, boom-be.' No one was doing that. I became very fascinated with the possibilities for expanding and enriching jazz rhythmically and phonically through the use of Afro-Cuban rhythmic and melodic devices."
Machito, Mario Bauzá, and René Hernández, pioneers of mambo in New York, The Wolfsonian-FIU, Vicki Gold Levi Promised Gift
Seeking more musical avenues as co-founder of the diverse orchestra Machito and the Afro-Cubans in 1939, Bauzá sprinkled the rhythms of Havana with jazz arrangement techniques and influences from band members of Italian, Filipino, Latin, Black, and Jewish heritage alongside the vocalist and maraca player Frank "Machito" Grillo. The conga drum, bongos, timbales, and the West African rhythm structures they voiced became inseparable from Latin jazz.
Blending Afro-Cuban rhythms and jazz harmony in his own composition was inevitable. Bauzá's "Tangá," recorded in 1943, is noted by its organizing clave rhythm, brass jazz harmonies, and improvised solos as the first true Afro-Cuban jazz or Latin jazz song -- from which emerged the genre and its many musicians, including Arturo Sandoval, Chucho Valdés, Celia Cruz, and Tito Puentes. Becoming known as "The Original Mambo King," Bauzá believed the new Afro-Cuban fusion he created with Machito and the Afro-Cubans was "a marriage. Each [music] preserving its identity but walking together."
Explore the world of Afro-Cuban music with the Charlotte Symphony at Havana Nights on February 21st and 22nd, featuring soprano Camille Zamora and the Mambo Kings.... Read more
John Luther Adams: A Composer in Tune with Nature
January 8, 2025
For composer John Luther Adams, music is a lifelong search for home -- an invitation to slow down, reflect, and rediscover our place in the natural world. Deeply inspired by his experiences in the Alaskan wilderness, Adams has spent his career creating soundscapes that connect us to the environment in profound ways, including his Pulitzer Prize-winning Become Ocean. The Charlotte Symphony will perform this groundbreaking work with immersive 360-degree audio and custom lighting design at Blume Studios on February 28 and March 1, 2025.
Adams spent nearly 40 years living in northern Alaska. Immersed in the stark beauty of the Arctic, he discovered a musical voice grounded in space, stillness, and the elemental forces of nature. Adams worked full-time as an environmental activist before devoting himself completely to composition as a way to spark change, believing music could move people in ways that politics could not.
This deep concern for the earth and humanity's future runs through all of Adams's works, particularly Become Ocean. Inspired by the ocean's vast, mysterious power and the ecological challenges of rising sea levels, the piece unfolds like waves, rising and falling, enveloping listeners in a soundscape that mirrors the ocean. But it's more than a reflection on nature -- it's a reminder of the fragile balance we must protect."If we can imagine a culture and a society in which we each feel more deeply responsible for our own place in the world, then we just may be able to bring that culture and that society into being."
"Life on Earth first emerged from the sea. And as the polar ice melts and sea levels rise, we humans find ourselves facing the prospect that once again we may literally become ocean."
The upcoming performances at Blume Studios take this concept to another level. 360° spatial audio and custom light projections will surround the audience with sound and images. It's an innovative approach that aligns perfectly with Adams's vision of making music that is not just about nature, but that feels like nature itself.
"Although it begins in solitude, my work is completed in community. The music doesn't come fully to life until other people -- performing musicians, listeners, recording engineers, critics, and so many others -- receive it and make it their own."
Join the Charlotte Symphony on February 28 and March 1, 2025, at Blume Studios for Become Ocean.
MERGE: Symphonic x Electronic
March 28, 2024By Producer and DJ Liam Collins, known by his stage name Push/Pull
In the heart of an ever-evolving musical landscape, a remarkable fusion is taking place, one that bridges centuries of tradition with the forefront of technological innovation. On May 10 & 11, the Blackbox Theater will become the stage for an unprecedented event that promises to redefine the boundaries of sound and sensory experience.
This event, featuring a live performance by Push/Pull alongside the Charlotte Symphony, is not just a concert; it's a groundbreaking endeavor that merges classical music's rich heritage with the boundless possibilities of electronic music. The collaboration goes beyond mere performance, incorporating visual artistry by Tenorless to create a full sensory experience, unlike anything previously witnessed.
Liam Collins, Push/Pull
At its core, this fusion centers on harmony -- the beautiful synergy of multiple notes working together. Classical music has long explored the depths of tonal harmony, pushing the capabilities of human performance and physical instruments to their limits. In contrast, electronic music, with its precise control over timbres and rhythms, offers creative possibilities that transcend the constraints of traditional instrumentation.
Yet, for all its technological prowess, electronic music can sometimes miss the organic feel and virtuosity that give classical compositions their soul-stirring power. It's a reminder of our human potential and the profound emotional depth that music can reach. After all, classical music is not just a genre but a pinnacle of human artistic achievement, cultivated through centuries of dedicated exploration and mastery.
Tenorless
However, when these two worlds -- classical and electronic -- come together, they remind us that at their heart, both are simply tools in the hands of artists. Instruments and computers alike sit silently until brought to life by human creativity and passion. This event celebrates the merging of classical music's tradition, virtuosity, and composition with the expansive new sound design possibilities that electronic music provides.
As we look forward to this unique blend of past and future, tradition and innovation, we're reminded of the limitless potential of music to evolve and inspire. Join us at the Blackbox Theater on May 10 & 11 for an experience that promises to merge genres and transcend them, creating a moment in time where the essence of musical exploration is celebrated.... Read more
Composer Spotlight: Nia Imani Franklin
February 16, 2024
A multi-talented musician, composer, actress, conductor, and singer, Nia Imani Franklin was born and raised in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Her journey in music began at a young age, taking classical voice lessons and composing her first piece at just six years old. Franklin continued her music education earning a master's degree in Music Composition from The University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
Franklin moved to New York after being selected for the 2017 William R. Kenan Fellowship with the Lincoln Center of the Performing Arts education division. She immediately began working with Success Academy Charter Schools and founded a music club for the students. She also served as a cultural partner for Sing for Hope, a NYC-based non-profit organization. In June 2018, Franklin was crowned Miss New York and earned the title of Miss America the following year.
Franklin's compositions have been performed by orchestras throughout the United States, with notable works like Chrysalis Extended garnering millions of views on TikTok.
The Charlotte Symphony performing Franklin's Chrysalis Extended at Queens University of Charlotte
In 2019, Franklin founded Compose Her -- an initiative aimed at empowering women in music. Through Compose Her, she provides support, mentorship, and opportunities for female musicians, advocating for gender equality in a field historically dominated by men.
Hear the Charlotte Symphony perform Franklin's When I Consider Your Heavens conducted by Christopher James Lees on March 19 at On Tap @ Town Brewing Company. ... Read more
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