’Bridge Music’ goes virtual
STORY + PHOTOS BY NIKI DELAWDER
Back in the summer of 2007, I was a year out of college working at my first job as the art director for the now-defunct Taconic Press out of Millbrook. And one of my first field assignments for Dutchess Magazine is still one of my favorites: meeting local composer Joseph Bertolozzi on the pedestrian walkway of the Mid-Hudson Bridge in Poughkeepsie to photograph him as he worked on his sound-art installation, “Bridge Music.”
As we walked down the pathway of the Mid-Hudson Bridge, Bertolozzi whacked, thumped and played on every little surface he passed, traffic whirling past during an otherwise normal morning commute. His eyes closed tight at times, listening closely as he swung mallets against the beams, tapped wooden dowels on the railings, and tinkered with sounds using whatever else he pulled from a five gallon bucket that rolled behind him as we walked. NYSBA workers even placed mics in places he wasn’t permitted to access for those hard-to-reach-or-even-imagine-sounds.
He made an album from those sampled sounds, “Bridge Music,” that reached the Top 20 Billboard Charts for Classical Crossover.
From there, Bertolozzi went on to record “Tower Music” at the Eiffel Tower, and continues to share his free-spirit sound-art experience with students of all ages. "Using video and audio interspersed with my personal accounts, we often end with a ‘play-along’ where I hand out cymbals and drumsticks and play along to a song as I cue the audience when to strike their cymbals,” Bertolozzi said. “Now that I can't go out, it's nice to be able to provide some diversion to the public during this lockdown.”
On Sunday, May 3 at 1pm, in conjunction with the Walkway Over the Hudson, Bertolozzi will talk about the history of Bridge Music during an online presentation that includes a virtual tour out onto the bridge and a Q&A session. The discussion is free to join via Zoom, but the event is limited to the first 100 attendees. Register at the link: https://bit.ly/2xcIBPg.
“Bridge Music” will also be a part of a dance project later this year with Vanaver Caravan and the observance of both the Walkway's 10th anniversary and the Mid-Hudson Bridge's 90th anniversary.
For more info, visit: JosephBertolozzi.com.
To hear Bridge Music in various formats, visit: Delos Records, innova, Naxos, Spotify, Apple Music or Amazon.
You can also safely listen to Bridge Music in your car from the Park Radios on 95.3FM from Waryas Park in Pok and Johnson-Iorio Park in Highland.
More info:
bridgemusic.info
towermusic.net
New York State Bridge Authority
Historic Bridges of the Hudson Valley
Dutchess Tourism
Ulster County Tourism
Arts Mid Hudson
#BridgeMusic
#TowerMusic
Virtual Lecture: The Making of Joseph Bertolozzi’s Bridge Music
Sunday, May 3, 2020
1 p.m.
Free, but limited to the first 100 attendees.
Register + join via Zoom: https://bit.ly/2xcIBPg
FUN FACT : “The bridge’s designer, Ralph Modjeski, was a highly skilled pianist (he was a classmate of the famous Polish virtuoso Paderewski). He ultimately chose engineering as his profession and became one of the 20th century’s greatest bridge designers. Both as a pioneering engineer and a musician who loved the music of his own time, he would be intrigued to experience this boundary-shattering synthesis involving his beloved bridge and the music of our time.” - via https://josephbertolozzi.com/bridge-music/
