Illuminated (and musical) River

 © IIlluminated River

The idea of illuminating London's bridges with cohesive artist and architect designed lighting together with accompanying compositions is an intriguing prospect. And whilst Illuminated River's plans include both the lighting (from artist Leo Villareal and architects Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands) and music (from composers at Guildhall School of Music), to listen and watch you will have to download the music to a phone, but I still like the idea of being able to look at the bridges from the banks of the Thames and have the music wafting around you!

The Illuminated River project plans cohesively designed lighting for 15 of London bridges designed by artist Leo Villareal and architects Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands, to be installed over three years. The first bridges to be lit are London, Cannon Street, Southwark and Millennium bridges, with the lighting being switched on last week.

Composers from both the Composition and Electronic Music Department of Guildhall School have been commissioned by the Illuminated River Foundation to create original scores inspired by the heritage, architectural context and Villareal’s artwork for the first four bridges of Illuminated River. The compositions have captured the character of each bridge, with some arranged for orchestra, and others using spoken word poetry, found sound and electronica to tell the story of these historic monuments.

To listen to the compositions you can download them from the Illuminated River website, but there will be an open-air concert on 31 July at the Scoop, outside City Hall, and a concert at Milton Court Concert Hall on 24 September 2019. You can hear the compositions in the Illuminated River gallery at the Guildhall Art Gallery alongside visualisations of the project (until 1 September 2019).

Full details from the Illuminated River website.