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The Lost Sound Orchestra The Lost Sound Orchestra is the ASTRA project ( www.astraproject.org) orchestra. It is a unique orchestra made by reconstructed ancient instrument coming from the ASTRA research activities. It is the first ensemble in the world composed of only reconstructed instruments of the past. Listening to it is like jumping into the past, in a sound world completely new to our ears. A truly international collaboration project The ASTRA project is currently finishing modeling a few ancient instruments, belonging to the same historical age: a chitara, a salpinx and a Lyra. Those three instruments will be soon part of the ensemble. The orchestra is currently preparing all the sounds, selecting the players, working on the orchestration and organizing its first performance (by the end of Summer 2009). The GEANT2 and EUMEDCONNECT2 research networks are intensively used to produce the huge amount of high-quality sound samples needed by the orchestra. Network engineers, historians, musicians, conductors, physicists are collaborating on a large geographic area (from the lower Mediterranean to Northern Europe) to have everything ready.
The Epigonion on stage:
In December 2008, a unique concert was staged using the digitally reconstructed sounds of the epigonion, a harp-like instrument from Ancient Greece, alongside the Sonora Network Ensemble's performance of the Czech composer Jan Dismas Zelenka’s Psalm “Laetatus sum”. This world premiere showcased the sounds of an instrument of the past, reconstructed via computer-intensive modelling, being performed alongside real instruments such as violins and flutes as well as voices. The sounds of the Epigonion have been recreated by a team of researchers from the ASTRA (Ancient instruments Sound/Timbre Reconstruction Application) project using the high-speed networks GÉANT2 and EUMEDCONNECT and the EGEE (Enabling Grids for E-sciencE) computing infrastructure.
Other sound examples
To listen to a recording of the Epiginion playing the Scarlatti Sonata in D Minor, http://www.dante.net/upload/wav/ScarlattiSonataDMinor.wav
To listen to a recording of the Epiginion playing the Scarlatti Sonata in G Major, http://www.dante.net/upload/wav/ScarlattiSonataGMajor.wav
For more information about the sound reconstruction of the Epigonion, http://www.dante.net/server/show/ConWebDoc.2867 |
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