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Internationally-acclaimed sound artist Craig Colorusso and the Creative Improvisation Collective at the University of Missouri School of Music will transform Pickard Plaza on September 22 from 5-7 p.m. into an immersive musical environment featuring Colorusso’s innovative Sun Boxes sound installation and the world premiere of a music composition written for this occasion by Mizzou student composer Dominick DeStefano.
Sun Boxes consists of 20 solar-powered speakers, each independently playing a continuously looping guitar note. Together, the notes create a sustained B-flat chord, but because every loop is a different length, the composition is constantly shifting and evolving. Visitors become part of the composition simply because no two listening experiences are exactly alike.
Presented by the Center for the Humanities Hearing Place StudioLab in partnership with the Mizzou New Music Initiative, the Sun Boxes installation is part of a four-day residency by Colorusso at the University of Missouri School of Music.
“Taking place on the Autumn Equinox, when day and night are nearly equal in length, this solar-powered installation will evolve throughout the day, changing its sounds as the sun moves across the sky,” Colorusso said. “The sounds of Sun Boxes is both soothing and energizing.”
The Creative Improvisation Collective will perform the premiere of Piece for Sun Boxes and Musicians, new music composed by DeStefano for this project.
“This piece connects with the mission of Hearing Place by creating a framework for improvisation that aims to fit into and complement the existing sound environment,” DeStefano said. “It encourages the musicians to improvise in response to what is already happening in the environment and create a sort of dialogue between the installation and the music being performed. This piece does not seek to impose itself on the environment but rather exists within it.”