The making of the EarthQuaker Symphony

We are pleased to present a behind-the-scenes look into the hard work that went into the live performance of “Confluence: A Concerto for Orchestra and EarthQuaker Devices” back in March of 2022. This special collaboration between the Akron Symphony Orchestra and EarthQuaker Devices took years of planning. The efforts of everyone involved paid off in spades and opened the door for more experimentation combining the world of electronics and classical orchestra.

We sat down with Christopher Wilkins, the Music Director and Conductor of the Akron Symphony Orchestra, and Jon Sonnenberg and Jake Gunnar Walsh, the two co-composers of the piece, who were the chief collaborators in bringing this performance to life. The planning of this event started before the pandemic, and was put on hold for some time. The team continued to brainstorm and work on this project virtually from early 2020 up until the date of the performance in March 2022.

When writing “Confluence”, Jon Sonnenberg drew from his experience scoring for films and video games as inspiration, and exchanged ideas with co-composer Jake Gunnar Walsh and Christopher Wilkins to create a cohesive piece of music. Jake Gunnar Walsh experimented with a selection of EarthQuaker pedals and helped translate Sonnenberg’s ideas to fit into the environment of a classical orchestra. The piece was appropriately titled “Confluence” as the creation of the piece required two artists from very different backgrounds to join together to create something truly unique. They describe the logistical challenges faced when setting up the arrangement of acoustic instruments and electronics on stage, and how they were able to achieve a successful result, combining the affected instruments with the acoustical sounds.

If you missed this performance, the recorded performance will be permanently available to watch on YouTube, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kvLHzz-CDY

We were honored to work with all the talented performers in the Akron Symphony Orchestra for this event, as well as the team members behind the scenes who worked hard to make this event a success. A special thanks to Music Director Christopher Wilkins, Executive Director Paul Jarrett, Jon Sonnenberg, Jake Gunnar Walsh, and our wonderful CEO Julie Robbins for sparking the idea for this collaboration.

Filmed by Chris Tran, Jeff France, Dannesh Moosa, David Whited
Edited by David Whited

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