The Music Department is proud to offer a wide range of musical activities for Cal Day visitors on Saturday, April 16, from 10am to 4pm. Events take place in and around the music buildings, Hertz Memorial Concert Hall and Morrison Hall, for all to enjoy. Indoor events include the kid-friendly Music Connection Instrument Workshop, as well as sonatas and concerti performed by talented Music students—on piano, cello, voice, as well as on the Noack organ in Hertz Hall. Outdoor events include African drumming and dance, cello quartets (Celli@Berkeley), followed by the energetic Gospel Chorus. Check calday.berkeley.edu for a full roster of events.
The Big Bong
The Tsar Bell in Moscow, largest extant bell , has never been played.
Also do check out the premiere performance of “The Big Bong” for carillon duet and an electronic modeling broadcast of the Tsar Bell at noon, 2pm, and 4pm, recreating the sound of the 218-ton Tsar Bell in Moscow, Russia. The Tsar Bell, largest bell in the world, has never been played because it was too heavy to lift from the casting pit. A structure was put over the bell to protect it, but in 1737 during the Great Fire of Moscow the roof caught fire. Guards sprayed water on the bell which caused it to crack several times, and an eleven-ton piece cracked off. The Tsar Bell has rested on a massive plinth in the Kremlin outside the Ivan the Great bell-tower since 1836 when it was finally raised from the pit, nearly a century after it was cast.
University Carillonist Jeff Davis performs his new piece,”The Big Bong” for Carillon Duet and an electronic modeling broadcast of the Tsar Bell* will be played at noon, 2pm and 4pm, in conjunction with the carillon. Best listening sites: The Campanile Esplanade and Faculty Glade.
*Note: Greg Niemeyer at the Center for New Media at Berkeley and graduate students from Berkeley and Stanford worked last year using Finite Element Modeling techniques to come up with what is presumed to be the sound of the bell (rendered electronically). On Cal Day a bell-like structure will be constructed on the Campanile Esplanade and a dozen subwoofers pointing inward will sound (it sounds at 28 Hz —super, super low frequency). Carillonist Jeff Davis will perform his new piece for carillon duet composed for this special occasion. Faculty composer Edmund Campion has been involved in the process, as has the Visitor’s Center, Greg Niemeyer from the Center for New Media, and other campus units, including Russian Studies. Look for other events involving the Tsar Bell at calday.berkeley.edu.