Sound Sculpture

After settling into our rooms and stopping at Stoby's for fish and chips, we took a walk at dusk around the cathedral grounds.  Our timing in Salisbury this week is outstanding - the Salisbury International Arts Festival started on Saturday.  We stumbled on a unique sensory experience in our walk.  

As we approached the cathedral, we could hear singing, and discovered a sold out concert of the premier of Bob Chilcott's Salisbury Vespers.  While we were bummed that we couldn't get in for the remainder of the concert, we decided to walk around the cloisters.  This is when we began hearing strange whisperings and bells and other sounds intermingling with the concert we could hear going on inside the cathedral.  As we walked around, we discovered that the extra sounds were from a "sound sculpture" installed in the cloisters.  It gave us goose flesh!  

While the clip below doesn't compare to hearing it in person, this might give you an idea what it was like - very cool.  We discovered today that the concert inside involved hundreds of choristers, a huge orchestra and seven conductors to keep the masses in time with each other!  You can hear part of the concert inside at the very beginning of the clip...