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Ojai
Music Festival alumnus Trimpin to create sound sculpture for Ojai’s
rebuilt Libbey Bowl
Sound
Arch to be unveiled during reopening day for the Bowl on June 5,
2011
 February
26, 2010, OJAI CA -- Internationally acclaimed sound sculptor
Trimpin will create Sound Arch, a 12-foot sound sculpture, as the
permanent art piece for the new Libbey Bowl, Ojai’s outdoor
performance venue. Trimpin’s Sound Arch will be unveiled on
June 5, 2011 during a community Day of Music, a free event to celebrate
the Bowl’s re-opening. Trimpin was selected by the Ojai City
Council from more than 30 artists Inspired by the curved shape of
Libbey Bowl, the12-foot sound sculpture Sound Arch will consist
of 24 re-claimed metal tubes of varying lengths with resonators
and internal mallet mechanisms, which will produce melodic sounds
similar to a xylophone or chiming instrument. Positioned in front
of the new Libbey Bowl as the main entry point, Sound Arch will
be activated by a motion sensor as visitors approach the sculpture,
playing electronically pre-composed musical sequences. The permanent
art piece which will be open year-round will also have the ability
to be operated manually or as a stand-alone instrument.
Trimpin, who has been
a featured and beloved Ojai Music Festival artist in 2006 and 2009,
will begin construction on Sound Arch later this year. Additional
information on the Libbey Bowl renovation is available on the web
site, LibbeyBowl.org.
 Trimpin
is a MacArthur “genius grant” award-winning sound sculptor,
composer, musician, and inventor who describes his work as “an
ongoing exploration of the concepts of sound, vision, and movement,
experimenting with combinations that will introduce our senses of
perception to a totally new experience.” Although he uses the
latest technology available, he works with the “natural”
elements of water, air, light and fire - and reconfigures them in
new and unusual applications, pushing them to the limits—and
beyond—of how they are traditionally viewed. Trimpin built
his first sound sculpture at the age of 8 at home in Efringen-Kirchen,
Germany. He apprenticed as an electro-mechanical engineer, which
fed his passion for acoustic sound spatialization, and later moved
to the United States because Americans throw out more of the hightech
junk that he requires for his work. Trimpin’s sound sculptures,
both whimsical and serious, have appeared all over the world. Trimpin,
who is currently artist-in-residence at the California Arts Institute,
returned to the Ojai Music Festival in 2009 with two sound sculptures:
Sheng High, a 2005 fusion of seeing and hearing sound that is entirely
unique, and his recent sound sculpture—Guiter-Toy— seen
for the first time in Ojai. An Ojai Music Festival favorite, Trimpin
exhibited his interactive Conloninpurple installation for the Festival’s
60th anniversary season in 2006.
Now in its sixth decade,
the Ojai Music Festival continues its unmatched musical legacy and
international reputation for artistic excellence, adventurous programs,
and as a haven for creative artistic camaraderie. Each year, the
Festival welcomes a new music director who creates his/her own artistic
programming with an emphasis on contemporary music. The 2010 Festival
features British composer/conductor George Benjamin. All concerts
take place at the outdoor Libbey Bowl, on a site held sacred by
the Chumash Indians. From its founding in 1947, a healthy spirit
of eclecticism and musical daring flourished, and the Ojai Music
Festival remains a world champion of contemporary programming that
is enchanting and challenging. With the1954 appointment of Lawrence
Morton as artistic director, Ojai embraced an enduring concept whereby
the artistic director engages a different music director each year,
around whose musical ideas that year’s Festival is built. Among
the Festival’s diverse music directors have been such renowned
musical personalities as John Adams, Pierre Boulez, Aaron Copland,
Ingolf Dahl, Peter Maxwell Davies, Lukas Foss, John Harbison, Oliver
Knussen, Kent Nagano, Igor Stravinsky, Michael Tilson Thomas, Esa-Pekka
Salonen, Mitsuko Uchida, Robert Spano, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, David
Robertson, and eighth blackbird. Considered a highlight of the summer
classical music season, the Ojai Music Festival is a four-day series
of concerts, symposia, and auxiliary events set in the idyllic Ojai
Valley, known as California’s Shangri-la.
The “Save Libbey
Bowl” is a community-wide project of the Ojai Valley Service
Foundation, partnering with the City of Ojai, Civic Association,
Ojai Music Festival, and other arts organizations to rebuild the
outdoor amphitheatre, the cultural hub of the Ojai Valley where
over a dozen of performing arts events are held every year.
For more information
on the Ojai Music Festival go online to OjaiFestival.org, or for
more information on the Libbey Bowl campaign go to LibbeyBowl.org.
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