Music, Nature and Architecture
As luck would have it, this trip was an amazing convergence of three things I love—nature, music and architecture.
The main reason for the trip was to rehearse and perform the American premiere of my father Donald Patriquin’s Songs of Innocence, an adaptation of William Blake’s poems in an 8-movement suite for choir, harp and flute. I had performed the suite before in Canada, as a chorister in concert and on a recording, then as the flute soloist for my father’s retirement concert at the end of my musical studies at McGill University; but this was my first foray back into public performance in a long time…
The rest of the trip was serendipity. As it happened, we were able to visit Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West, a must for any architecture lover. We also rehearsed in Wright’s Gammage Hall and we were able to wander in and around the Desert Botanical Garden. All in all, certainly not a bad way to spend a few days and escape from the Connecticut winter.
Day 1: Local Landscape – Desert Botanical Garden
My father and I started our exploration of the local landscape at the Desert Botanical Garden. At this time of the year, the desert is at its most lush—flowering cacti and other plants show their most vibrant colors. Stone, wood and steel constructs provide shade at key points along the way.
Day 2: Rehearsal Day at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Gammage Hall
The focus of our 2nd day was to rehearse—first with the instrumentalists and soloists, then with instrumentalists, soloists and choristers. It was a surprise to us that we would be practicing in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Gammage Hall. It’s used by the music faculty of Arizona State University, for its numerous rehearsal rooms.
The building’s design has an interesting story. Gammage Hall was originally designed by Frank Lloyd Wright as an opera house in Baghdad, Iraq. When that project never materialized, Wright decided to use the design for the university auditorium that his close friend, Arizona State University President Grady Gammage, had commissioned. Though neither man lived to see it completed in 1964, Gammage Hall has remained one of the premier performing arts centers in the U.S., hosting numerous broadway shows, musical and dance performances, lectures, symposiums and even the 2004 presidential debate.
Day 3: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West
Our 3rd day was devoid of structured rehearsals. So after checking in with our respective office/studios and practicing, we headed to Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter camp turned estate.
Taliesin West was first built as a winter camp in 1937, on the mesa just below McDowell Peak, close to Phoenix in what is now Scottsdale. Here, students and their families helped build a place that would become an architecture studio, school and residence. Over the years, canvas roofs and doors were replaced by glass, and new buildings were built, incorporating experimental designs and techniques.
Students and their families were encouraged to learn all aspects of architecture and construction, as well as art, dance and music. (On our tour, my father improvised on Frank Lloyd Wright’s Steinway piano!)
Day 4: Rehearsal and Performance at the Tempe Center for the Arts
On our last day, we rehearsed and performed the Songs of Innocence at the Tempe Center for the Arts.
Designed by local architecture firm Architekton in collaboration with Barton Myers Associates of Los Angeles, the structure boasts an enormous roof made of complex geometric folded plates inspired by the dramatic verticals of Arizona’s Monument Valley. According to Architekton, the building’s design is “based on the Anasazis’ Chaco Canyon Pueblo Bonita Great House plan. An outer protective wall holds the rooms within. The spaces between the kivas (rooms) become the streets and plazas (corridors and lobbies) for the village.”
This quick trip to Phoenix was partially planned, partially left to serendipity. For my father and myself, it was a time to play music with some great people and to share some memorable moments while exploring a beautiful part of the world…