portals II (everywhere and everything right now) (2022)

for four or more instruments

Commissioned by Freesound Ensemble with support from the Canada Arts Council. Creation of the score supported by the Ontario Arts Council.

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portals Il (everywhere and everything right now) (2022) explores sonic noise and the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics.

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In the quantum-mechanical "Schrödinger's cat" paradox, according to the many-world interpretation, every quantum event is a branch point; the cat is both alive and dead, even before the box is opened. However, the "alive" and "dead" cats are in different branches of the multiverse — equally real, yet unable to interact with one another.

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The open graphic score for portals Il contains many discrete "sound universes" (branches of the multiverse), represented through various types of visual noise meant to invoke noisy sounds from the respective instruments. Throughout the work, performers can choose to remain within their own separate "sound universe", or they can take portals (represented as coloured shapes) to the perceived "sound universe" of other performers and musically interact.