PLOrk, Rage Thormbones, & Eric Plutz
The Princeton Laptop Orchestra (“PLOrk”) will join the RAGE Thormbones trombone duo, University Organist Eric Plutz, and members of the Princeton University Chapel Choir present a unique concert-meets-sound-installation event in the acoustically stunning University Chapel, an immense space in which sounds takes almost nine seconds to diffuse. Throughout the concert, members of PLOrk will be positioned throughout the Chapel performing an electronic instrument invented by graduate student composer Christopher Douthitt. This new instrument evokes the sound of resonant metals bowed as if they were strings. The community is invited to move around the chapel to fully experience a range of new sounds in this FREE, unticketed event.
The concert will feature three new works written for the occasion, written by graduate student composers Christopher Douthitt, Daniel Silliman, and Cleek Schrey. The works reimagine the chapel as both an interior and exterior experience, with the organ, trombones, choir and PLOrk joining to create waves of complex, glowing harmony. Stretches of wandering attention give way to overwhelming focus; inarticulate sounds suddenly find themselves making sense. One piece on the program features trombone sounds transformed electronically into a metallic meta-instrument spanning the length of the chapel. The performers—separated by hundreds of feet—engage in a group exploration of the sounds, timbres, and resonances hidden within both trombone and chapel alike.