Salt Spring Islanders have two opportunities to hear music created by plants when Tritone Crisantemo brings the Masterplants Orchestra to the island from his home in Italy.
“Masterplants Orchestra takes plant music to a new level by making full-scale plant concerts with up to eight plants playing simultaneously. Sometimes involving human musicians, giving birth to what they call an interspecies music,” explains material on the organization’s website.
The first event is at the Salt Spring Centre of Yoga’s Pond Dome on Tuesday, July 1 at 3 p.m. and the second is at ArtSpring on Saturday, July 5 at 7 p.m.
A nature walk is also part of the Salt Spring Centre gathering. For both events, people are invited to bring one of their house plants to sing in sessions after the main concert.
The Masterplants Orchestra website explains how the music is created: “By connecting two electrodes to a plant we are able to measure electric resistance within its physiology. These measurements are converted by an algorithm into digital information about music, and sent into a device that generates sound, like a smartphone, computer or instrument.”
Crisantemo has applied plant music as performance throughout the world since 2018. Salt Spring’s events are part of his first western Canadian tour.
The visits are organized by Shannon Leigh, founder of Friendly Relations.World, whose purpose she says is “to nurture a new expression of community and harmony that speaks to the next seven generations, allowing for a giant leap in human evolution.”
“In a time of uncertainty and divisiveness, the plants remind us of our connection with each other and all of life,” said Leigh.