Headphones are part of daily life at train station , an urban requirement used by commuters to overwhelm out the flurry of action around them . But the other night at Union Station in Los Angeles , as I watched a cleaning woman crawl across the top of an selective information stall while a man ’s spokesperson from another room whispered in my ear , the headphones I wear became a way to heighten , not ignore , the experience — like tuning into a pirate radio programme where the plot began to come to life history before my eye .
unseeable Citiesis an opera by Christopher Cerrone based on the novel by Italo Calvino that ’s produced byThe IndustryandLA Dance Projectand staged in public within the station . The show , which go until November 8 , is a full immersive and sometimes super jarring choose - your - own - escapade experience as you drift the dramatic architecture at nighttime , listening to the voice which — thanks to the wireless sound equipment on your ears — experience like they ’re quite literally in your headland .
Although this kind of headphone - attend performance is n’t that unusual — if you went to art school , you likely go to at least one silent disco / rave — director Yuval Sharon had never get a line it done with a live singer and a live orchestra before . “ I commence thinking about what a public presentation would be like that could use headphones in a medium that is all about the human voice , ” he says . “ That you could outdistance yourself from the strong-arm body of the singer , that you could just hear voice of the singer , was an fabulously powerful estimation . ”
To execute the technologically complex idea , Sharon turned to German sound companySennheiser , which is known for its collaboration with artists . A former bagel shop at the center of the station act as Sennheiser ’s command centre , where engineers produce the performance without seeing any of it in someone . Gathering strait from wireless microphones tape to the cheeks of the performers , the applied scientist create six different mixes which are simultaneously output back out to the headphones of the performers , musicians and audience member .
Since the orchestra is sealed in a room away from much of the action , a large part of the engineer ’ task is forever monitoring to verify they ’re on firm , undefended frequencies — and , because it ’s a train post in a major city , there ’s a hatful of yack . Any audio drops will result in the performers overlook their cues . The biggest challenge was Union Station itself : the thickheaded walls and lead - paned windows of the 1939 building created extra barrier and interference , so the engineers needed to make four separate transmitting aerial farms throughout the construction ( including running a cable television in a tunnel beneath the building to reach a court ) .
The performance began by checking out a pair of wireless earphone from a booth in the old tag hall of the post ( so appropriate ) . I was told to make my way to the Fred Harvey Room , a former eatery that ’s now used as an event space . As I slipped on my headphones , one of those disembodied male voices began reciting a passage in Italian , console but also a little unnerving .
When I reached the room , the orchestra was warm up indoors of it , and Sharon stepped forrad and welcomed everyone . When the performance began we could go wherever we wanted , he said . We ’d recognize if we walked too far astray , because we ’d no longer get word the audio ( there were also blood-red - shirted staffers stationed at the perimeter , just in case ) . He also cautioned , somewhat mysteriously , that we would n’t be able to see every part of the performance . “ You ’ll all miss component part of it , and you ’ll all have front row seats . ”
People I speak to had dissimilar strategy for “ watching ” the opera house . Some wandered the edifice . Some citizenry park themselves in one shoes for almost the total nighttime . I found myself surveil the performer , either physically — I’d see them and walk behind them — or audibly — I’d find out them spill the beans and walk through the rooms until I found them in somebody . Sometimes you ’d round a turning point and everything would get a little Eyes Wide Shut , with ominous music , lots of masks and the feeling that you were stumble upon a very personal import between two masses .
Most of the metre I actually had a really hard time telling who the performer were . The pay audience was all clearly labeled with our headphones . But I encountered dozen of passengers I swore were in costume , some of whom I stopped follow when I realized they were n’t going to split into concordance . And layer upon that were all the regular sounds and body process of the station—”ATTENTION AMTRAK PASSENGERS TRAVELING ON BARSTOW BUS 491 ALL ABOARD ” bellow through the hall during a scene — which made it much more interesting than just observe an opera house on stage .
I let out that I did n’t even have to come the story to have a transcendent experience — it was more like I was stepping in and out of different conversations between the medicine , the world and the construction . I walk outside through the garden , stood in the waiting room with the other passenger ; I even sat at the legal community in the station for awhile and took off my headphones , jumping along with the rest of the drinker when a humans in a wheelchair suddenly begin whistle nearby , his vibrato echoing a genus Capella into the arches of the main hall . ( Yes , he was one of the performing artist — although I can imagine there will be some interesting story about passer-by who try out to become part of the act . )
I almost care I could have stumbled upon the opera house by accident , just to have that moment of discovery . Throughout the evening it was often more enthralling to watch the chemical reaction of the post ’s passengers . Sometimes it feel like a overture to a flash mob or , like when I watched a kinfolk awkwardly attempt to wheel their suitcases around some oncoming dancer , a clip from America ’s Funniest Home Videos .
But the most captivated audience members did n’t seem to have anywhere in particular to go . These were the people sitting in the wooden chairs of the waiting country , many of them trying to sleep while vocalist swirling around them .
I negociate to capture what might have been my favored import of the night , when a man took off his earphone and passed them to another valet seat amidst several large bag . His eyebrows scoot up when he try what the rest of us could find out . He smiled as he listened , and he became part of the carrying out , too .
[ Top epitome courtesy Invisible Cities ]
Los AngelesSennheisertransportation
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