A good meal can become a great meal if the restaurant has the right ambiance. That’s what chefs say at least. Good music, for example, can improve the experience of eating.
But what about the other way around? Can good food improve the experience of listening to good music?
An Interlochen conductor and a chef are teaming up in Traverse City to find out.
The conductor is Matthew Schlomer, who is in charge of the Interlochen Arts Academy band. Part of his job is picking what music the band will play for each concert. He says he’s like a chef selecting a restaurant’s menu.
“If all the pieces in a concert are like a dessert, it doesn’t work,” Schlomer says.
Schlomer has the music all picked out for the Interlochen Band’s concert on November 20th. The audience will also be served an eight-course meal to go along with the music.
The meal is being prepared by the head chef at Black Star Farms in Leelanau County. It’s something extra that Schlomer thinks can help the audience better engage with the music.
“I’m always looking for ways that can help audiences experience music in different ways for a deeper understanding,” Schlomer says.
Dayton says the first thing he thought of when he listened to some of the concert’s music was not the taste but how the food would actually look on the plate.
“You know we listened to some music that was very raw and harsh in a way,” Dayton says. “And I was thinking of serving food on a piece of wood or a rock or a piece of marble.”
Dayton says he’s still not entirely sure what will be on the menu – even though the event is coming up soon. That’s because his kitchen relies almost entirely on local food.
“We do all our menu writing and food preparation based on the seasonality, so we want everything to be as fresh as possible,” Dayton says. “Sometimes you don’t really know what is available until it’s that day. It’s that fresh.”
Alan Brown is an audience researcher who says there’s a lot of collaboration like this between artists happening around the country.
“Interdisciplinary arts programming is really the wave of the future,” Brown says. “There’s a lot of artistic energy and interest amongst audiences in art that breaks down boundaries, that transcends.”
Brown’s never heard of an event quite like this one. He thinks the difficulty is that either the music – or the food – could overpower the other.
“People need opportunities for focused listening,” Brown says. “So I think it’s important how they organize the program and allow people to alternatively focus on the food and the music.”
Some of the music is well known – like a piece by Mozart. Other pieces of music are more obscure –like something called “Scherzo for a Bitter Moon” by Gregory Youtz. Conductor Matthew Schlomer says the kids think it’s a really weird piece.
“They’ve been asking, ‘I can’t imagine what food is gonna go with “Scherzo for a Bittermoon,’” Schlomer says.
The students – and the audience – will find out Thursday at Kirkbridge Hall at the Grand Traverse Commons.
Matthew Schlomer and Jon Dayton did an interview earlier this week on Classical IPR. For that interview – along with some live musical selections from the show – click here.