3D Illusory Immersive Soundscape: Aurora

I love the photos in National Geographic magazine, especially those taken from the most remote places untouched by humans. I can imagine the photographers being immersed in those beautiful landscapes, feeling joy, peace, and perhaps loneliness while contemplating the insignificance of human beings on Earth.

I would like to convey such feelings and capture the breath of such landscapes through this work. The title, Aurora, intends to honor the sky, with magnificent mountains and coniferous forests blanketed in snow. I want my audience to see the reflections of the mountaintops on and in and ripples of surrounding lakes and feel what it is to breathe in cold and clean air. This landscape should feel joyous and untouched filled with love.

The work is written for a solo saxophone and electroacoustic performance. The solo part is mostly composed by extended techniques. The solo saxophone depicts mountains via multiphonics sounds: the aurora with practice tubes (plus glasses bottles); the ripples of lakes with singing-in-minor-seconds-while-playing techniques; and the lonely human with (only) quartertones during the solo passages. The electroacoustic part includes traditional chamber music, including the flute, piccolo, clarinet, bassoon, cello, and horn, as well as synthesized sounds. Together with those instrumental sounds, the solo saxophone part is seamlessly fused with the electroacoustic sounds.

The electroacoustic part is composed using the newest ambisonic techniques, with a 360-degree sound field surrounding the audience. When listening to this piece, audiences should use headphones to appreciate the binaural format.