The first component would be that of music performance. Members of the Boston Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra and clusters of percussion- based musicians, placed along Washington and Summer St. will perform at the event. Emerson and AIB professor Owen Curtin, the sound engineer for our last project, www.soundscape2007.com, will be involved regarding various components of the music’s execution, but particularly sound engineering and technical. Also involved will be Michael Vitali, a New York based musician, involved in the ongoing SOUNDSCAPE project. Michael will be involved in various aspects of the music for the event, particularly the percussion, as that is his primary instrument as a performer. He has experience directing with music and theatre productions in New York, and the Boston Theater Works. The simple nature of percussion-based music would allow us to integrate the styles of various cultures.

The second component is an architectural lighting of the sight and/or fence. Joseph Upham, the director of technology for Focus Lighting, and involved person of the BLiNK Project, spoke to the president of Focus, and they are very interested in being involved, for a very modest cost. Focus is one of the premier architectural lighting companies in the world. Projects include Atlantis Dubai-The Palm, the crown jewel of the world-renowned Palm Jumeirah development in Dubai, the “Snowflake Spectacle” project for Saks Fifth Ave., NY, and the 100th Anniversary of the Times Square Ball, New Years Eve 2007. Our contacts at Focus believe a company they work with, “Color Kinetics” of Boston, creators of many revolutionary lighting technologies, may be interested as well. Technologies employed by Focus and Color Kinetics, are low energy consumption (green).

The third component involves the fence itself. An artist, selected by contest will design a work involving aluminum elements integrated into the mesh of the fence itself. The casting of the elements onsite will be an exciting event in itself, in combination with “switching on the lights” regarding the architectural lighting.

The fourth element is restaurant promotion, enhanced by having a night in Downtown Crossing, which realizes the atmosphere and energy of a neighborhood as expressed in statements about the area’s revitalization, and visionary documents, such as the Executive Summary of Branding and Identity for Downtown Crossing. Any business could take advantage of this event, but we see a particular opportunity for restaurants, promoted by hand distributing flyer-coupons at the event, which would be tracked through restaurants to help assess our economic impact.

This event will draw people to the area during the hours following the 9-5 workday. Promotion of the event, starting just before the 5 o’clock business day exodus, and the buzz created by having music rehearsals in the weeks before, will insure this presence and atmosphere. The energy BliNK seeks to create can only be achieved by the presence of people experiencing something they truly never have before, in Downtown Crossing, the city center that most people only pass through.

There are many other plans for this multimedia event’s creative and logistical success. One of the most interesting aspects of this concept is that of old and new, with Filene’s and the upcoming development, echoed in BLiNK project no. 1’s utilization of old and new; percussive music of prehistoric times, the 6000-year-old process of metal casting, and cutting edge elements of modern architectural lighting.

For $30,000 this can be executed at a very high level, due to ready-to-go in-kind donations. This syncs with the city’s call for something to be done with a site that is currently under much public criticism and shows concern for the city by the developers. Ithaka Contracting & Design, the chief sponsor of SOUNDSCAPE 2007, owned by BLiNK Project director, Savvas Spyridopoulos, will contribute as much funding and resources as necessary to aid in this goal.

For more information and sponsorship opportunities, contact

Savvas Spyridopoulos 
The BLiNK Project and
Ithaka Contracting & Design 
15 Channel Center St. suite 214 
Boston, MA 02210 
tel: 617 669- 5690 
fax: 888 205- 2175 
email: info@soundscape2007.com
www.soundscape2007.com
www.ithakaco.com 

The string quartet performed in the series on June 25th. Musicians were: Rebecca Katsenes, Jane Hemenway violins, Scoot Woolweaver Viola, Cameron Sawzin Cello.

The eclectic program ranged from Mozart Divertimento #3 and Bluegrass tune “Dawg’s Bull to “Layla” by Eric Clapton with red-hot tangos, bluegrass and a taste of Cole Porter in between.

Fabulous Argentinean guitarist and composer Claudio Ragazzi, pianist Fernando Michelin, violinist Gerry Mordis and cellist Cameron Sawzin performed on the July 9th Concert. Claudio recently wrote several pieces for the film score for Francis Ford Copplola’s latest film and played all the guitar on it as well. Cameron has recorded several of his compositions for the PBS show “Nova”. This very unusual concert was a mixture of sophisticated tango, jazz/fusion and contemporary music, featuring beautiful tunes and infectious rhythmic patterns. Claudio arranged all the music for this ensemble. The Ensemble will continue to perform together at future concerts as will the Channel Cello Band the String Quartet.

Boston Virtuosi musicians are developing collaborations with other ensembles, and the rock-out electric cello concert on July 16th featuring the cello chix included wild arrangements of “Dollars and Sense” by Radio Head, “Whipping Post” by the Allman Brothers and “Kashmir” by Led Zepplin. The kinder, gentler first half included elegant acoustic and tonally rich classical music with the unique sound of a cello quartet. On the program were an arrangement of the slow movement of the Brahms Violin Concerto, and a wonderful version of the Mozart Sonata for two Pianos. Also featured were several of Susanna Porte’s very cello-friendly Beatles arrangements.

The final concert on August 20th will be The New England Brass, led by amazing Boston Virtuosi principal trumpet player Jay Daly. More information about the series is available by visiting friendsoffortpointchannel.org.

Paul went on to accept a position as violist with the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra (Orquesta Filarmonica de la Ciudad de Mexico) in 1984, where he was much in demand. There he played with two additional orchestras, working as substitute principal viola for the State of Mexico Symphony, and as principal and solo violist for a professional chamber orchestra sponsored by the University of Mexico. Paul returned to the Boston area in 1988 and completed his M.M. in Viola Performance at the University of Lowell. As a freelance violist he has played in many local orchestras such as the Boston Philharmonic, and far ranging Symphony Orchestras including Bangor, ME, Waterbury, CT., Valdosta, GA., Springfield, IL, Greenville, S.C., and the Palm Beach [FL.] Opera. He has also played for such diverse artists as Johnny Mathis, Smokey Robinson, Dionne Warwick and Marvin Hamlish.

Paul is a great enthusiast of chamber music and has been a founding member of two small chamber ensembles. A passionate and dedicated teacher, Paul has accepted many students over the years but due to other commitments, currently restricts his teaching to a small coterie of promising students. Paul’s academic background, and career-driven interest in the technical aspects of string playing, has led to a concomitant interest in instrument making. He is frequently consulted by musicians all over the United States searching for an instrument. In June of 1995 he was a Lecturer at the European Congress on Performing Arts Medicine (Frankfurt, Germany), addressing those in the medical field who treat musicians with injuries from playing, regarding some of the ways that instrument ergonomics and playing technique affect string playing, causing injuries. He has been on the faculty of the acclaimed North Bennett Street School of Violin Making, as the instructor of violin playing. All of Paul’s abilities and passions were brought to a focus several years ago when his Dover String Quartet was engaged by the Hartt School of Music to be the Quartet in Residence at the prestigious and intensive summer Conductor’s Institute.

Paul was subsequently invited to be the Institute’s principal and core violist, which he continued for eight years. In this period, the Institute’s director, Harold Faberman, observed Paul’s insight for conducting and encouraged Paul to become a student at the Institute as a Conducting Colleague, in which capacity he attended for two years. When scheduling permits, Paul continues to study the art of conducting with Kenneth Kiesler, and has recently returned from his second summer of studies at Keisler’s renowned Conductor’s Retreat in Medomak, ME.

Paul Dulude is a native of the Bay State and currently resides in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His outside interests include photography, bicycling and cooking.

Scott Woolweaver, violist, graduated with distinction from the University of Michigan School of Music before moving to Boston for graduate work with Walter Trampler. He was a founding member of the Boston Composers String Quartet, which won the silver medal at the 1993 String Quartet and Chamber Music Festa in Osaka, Japan, and with the Quartet performed across the United States and Europe. He is violist of the award-winning New England Piano Quartette, Boston’s Handel & Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, and spends summers at the Rocky Ridge Music Center in Estes Park (CO), and Adult Chamber Music Seminars at the Interlochen Arts Camp and Kneisel Hall in Blue Hill (ME).

A champion of 20th century music, Scott has premiered numerous works for the viola, many of which were written for him. He has toured Greece three times with Alea III, a contemporary music ensemble in residence at Boston University, and has been soloist or guest artist with numerous organizations across the United States, including the Boston Chamber Music Society, Bay Chamber Concerts, the Cape & Islands Festival, Chamber Artists of Washington DC, Collage New Music, the Bangor (ME) Symphony, Les Violons du Roy (Quebec), the Handel & Haydn Society, and the Vermont Symphony Orchestra. In 1985 he was a founding member of Chamber Music East (faculty, alumni and friends of the New England Conservatory) and the First Monday Series at Jordan Hall.

Scott is a faculty member of the All Newton Music School, Tufts University, the University of Massachusetts (Boston Campus) and has recorded for Orion, Koch International, TelDec, Audiofon, Albany Records, Decca, and Northeastern Records.

In January 1999, Scott joined the Ives String Quartet, which is based in San Francisco. Last fall, he was named “Artist in Residence” at Williams College.