The Isle of Avalon



an 8- or 16-channel soundscape installation 

A circular ring of 8 or 16 loudspeakers around the walls of a gallery surrounds the audience who may be comfortably seated (or lie down) in the middle. The continuously looping soundscape program is as follows:


Part 1: The Island


a journey in six scenes from the Shoreline, up the Singing River, to the Well, then the windy Tor, through the Night Forest (with crickets), and finally to the Opposite Shore. Duration: 19’ (Island)




Part 2: Chalice Well


a journey inside the well, through a variety of underground chambers with rushing and falling water, including the Chamber of the Feminine Spirit, the Glass Chamber, the Entrance to the Underworld guarded by the Holy Grail, and finally the Chamber of Repose. Duration: 14:20 (Chalice Well)



 

Part 3: The Abbey


an imaginary choral performance inside the medieval Glastonbury Abbey (destroyed by Henry VIII) featuring a choir of counter-tenor, alto and bass singers, whose voices are not only reverberated in the cathedral acoustics, but provoke ghostly after-images. Duration: 15:30 (Temple)

 


 

Part 4: Prospero’s Voyage


We return to the Island which is now the magician Prospero’s which he is about to leave after invoking a spell. He leaves underwater to the farthest point of the human imagination. Duration: 16:00 (Prospero's Voyage)




Please contact the composer (truax@sfu.ca) for more information and performance materials.


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