Trove Live Premiere at Manitoga / the Russel Wright Design Center

Live performance excerpts from the world premiere of Trove Live at Manitoga in Garrison, NY. Trove is a series of 104 ambient music pieces created by Ben Neill in collaboration with producer/composer Eric Calvi. Two pieces were created and released each week for one year from November 2020-November 2021. For the premiere, Neill’s unique electro-acoustic Mutantrumpet was augmented with a wireless networked surround sound system specially designed for this event. Neill and Calvi controlled the spatial movement of the sounds among speakers encircling the Quarry Pool, literally playing the Manitoga site and incorporating its natural sonic qualities into the performance.

The reflective, atmospheric music of Trove emanates entirely from the notes and timbres of Neill’s self-designed Mutantrumpet which are captured and processed digitally – no other sound sources are used. Trove is based on Fibonacci series sequences, which are also used to model the forces of growth and reproduction in the natural dynamical systems of plants and animals. The richly textured music ranges from meditative orchestral sonorities to gentle electronic pulses and drones, and many of the titles reference plant life and nature. The premiere of Trove offered a dialogue between the Fibonacci patterns and the natural world that they represent within the magnificent atmosphere of Manitoga, “place of great spirit.”