Symphony Tacoma’s “Eternal Light,” crowdsourced from area young people

Symphony Tacoma’s “Eternal Light,” crowdsourced from area young people

Symphony Tacoma’s multimedia piece Eternal Light “isn’t just a pretty gem,” writes Rosemary Ponnekanti in last Tuesday’s (2/9) South Sound Magazine (Tacoma, WA). “It’s 10 minutes of a vision into a hopeful future from a troubled present… Eternal Light came into being from a call to Tacoma youth to submit music, dance, poetry, or art on the theme of ‘eternal light,’ inspired by the ethereal ‘Lux Eterna’ movement from Mozart’s Requiem…. Symphony director Sarah Ioannides, whose creative idea this was, and who directed the project, received a stream of work … to weave together…. Electronic composer Will Scharnberg helped sculpt teenager Kevin Kernie’s percussive octaves and rolling minor 9ths into an arc of hope, minimalist but intriguing. Orchestrator Kim Scharnberg wove in simple parts for eight symphony musicians: violin, cello, oboe, clarinet, flute, horn, percussion, harp. Singers from the Tacoma Youth Chorus added backing…. Filmmaker Fernanda Lamuño took all those green-screened home or studio recordings, some stunning paintings and drawings … and wove them into a luminous, dreamlike whole…. Side by side on the YouTube channel is a delightful behind-the-scenes video, playfully edited, showing the creative process … and some very thoughtful reflections by everyone involved.”