SONOSPHERE®

The Sonosphere® forms an integral part of the resources of the National Rossini Museum and is located in Palazzo Mosca at the Civic Museums. The seating is arranged in a double cavea, like an amphitheatre that is transparent to sound. Conceived to embody acoustic perfection, the geode-like space is insulated from the outside and completely sound-absorbent on the inside. The sound emanates from 45 loudspeakers placed on the semi-spherical surfaces surrounding the public and under the seating, with the combined effect creating a spherical sound field in the centre closely resembling reality. A high definition 360° video circle of sound spectrograms and visual content is projected around the walls. Visitors experience true immersion into a resonant visual panorama that leads into the sound with a very powerful sensorial exploration of the space.

Professor David Monacchi, a teacher at the Rossini Conservatory, obtained an international patent for Sonosphere® in 2014, a portable eco-acoustic theatre for the project ‘Fragments of Extinction – Il Patrimonio Sonoro degli Ecosistemi’ (Fragments of Extinction – The Sound Legacy of Ecosystems), making it unique in terms of technological and functional characteristics.

The multi award-winning project “Fragments of Extinction” – which involved studies of the sound landscapes recorded in primary equatorial rainforests all over the world and making them accessible to the public – will comprise most of the content available to travel the international circuit. Due to the extreme changes in global climate and natural habitats at present, attention needs to be urgently called to the ‘sixth mass extinction’. The direct real-time experience of the sounds of intact ecosystems that can be heard in the Sonosphere® is one way to raise awareness of the paradigm shift and ecological transition that our civilisation can no longer ignore.

Thanks to the all-immersive sensory experience, the Sonosphere® is the ideal way to popularise science for the broader public, covering a number of areas linked to research into science and the arts and giving lessons in ecology and aesthetics. Applications on the therapeutic benefits are also being studied since the immersive experience is so advanced that it can induce a profound state of relaxation, and could also be used to help people on the autistic spectrum or who have more general sensorial disorders.

The Sonosphere® can be used as both a semi-permanent multi-functional structure in Palazzo Mosca, and also to travel the world so that international museums and cultural institutions can enjoy the content produced in Pesaro, UNESCO Creative City of Music. The Sonosphere® is a project by David Monacchi. The version scheduled for presentation on 6 January 2020 was financed as part of the Progetto ITI Pesaro Fano (Integrated Territorial Investments) with ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) Marche funds, and was developed with a contribution from the National Rossini Museum and the Municipality of Pesaro, coordinated by the following Municipal Services: New Works, Development and Opportunities, Cultural and Governance Policies. A team of about 20 professionals including engineers, designers, scenic artists and construction firms were involved in the construction of the Sonosphere®, with project management by Flavio Antoccia/Sonus Audio Services. The content to be used for the opening ceremony was created with nonstandard technology and software developed for the project by a special team including former students of the Electronic Music Course from the Conservatorio Statale di Musica G. Rossini, coordinated by David Monacchi and Eugenio Giordani.

On the occasion of the inauguration of the Climate Clock on the facade of the Civic Museums, on 24 September 2021, the program was updated as “Fragments of Extinction in the Climate Clock”. The soundscapes of the equatorial primary forests of the Amazon, Africa and Borneo have been enriched by an unpublished series of updated scientific data, on the state of the living planet and on the dangerous changes in the biosphere already underway (sources: UN, IPCC, IPBES, IUCN, WWF-ZSL); program as a whole selected and sponsored within the All4Climate-Italy 2021 events.

From 24 December 2021 in preview and officially from 14 January 2022, it is possible to enjoy the new immersive experience Raphael in Sonosfera®, developed for the fifth centenary of the death of the Divine Painter. The program is enriched by an unprecedented work of digital linguistic innovation, which tells the art of the master from Urbino through three-dimensional sound and 360 ° vision. In particular, the technological amphitheater for deep listening to ecosystems and music will allow to immerse yourself in the beauty of perhaps Raphael’s most significant masterpiece: the cycle of frescoes in the ‘Stanza della Segnatura’ of the Vatican Museums.

Some of the experience takes place in complete darkness so it is not recommended for anyone who suffers from claustrophobia or fear of the dark.

Photo Alex D’emilia

SONOSPHERE®
PALAZZO MOSCA – CIVIC MUSEUMS
Piazza Mosca, 29

June September
Fragments of Extinction in the Climatic Clock > Saturday, Sunday and holidays 10.30am and 4.30pm, Tuesday in August 9pm
Raffaello in Sonosfera® > Saturday, Sunday and holidays 11.30am and 5.30pm

October-May
Fragments of Extinction in the Climate Clock > Saturdays and holidays 11am, Sundays and holidays 5.30pm
Raffaello in Sonosfera® > Saturday 5.30pm, Sunday 11am

Closed December 25th and January 1st

Admission € 7
Reduced € 4

Reduced for Pesaro Cult Card holders, Pesaro Musei basic ticket or combined ticket holders, groups of minimum 15 persons, University students, concessions

Free for U19, ICOM members, journalists with accreditation cards, disabled persons and their companions, Carta Famiglia cardholders from the Municipality of Pesaro, students of the G. Rossini State Music Conservatory

Reservations required
INFO T +39 0721 387 541 (Palazzo Mosca – Civic Museums ticket office)
info@pesaromusei.it

Sonosfera® is temporarily installed at the FuoriSalone in Milan in the courtyard of honor of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

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Opening times

June – Sepetember
Tuesday to Sunday and holidays 10.00-13.00 and 15.00 – 18.00

October – May
Tuesday to Thursday 10.00-13.00
Friday to Sunday and holidays 10.00-13.00 and 15.00 – 18.00

Closed 25 December and 1 Januaryary

Museo Nazionale Rossini
Palazzo Montani Antaldi
Via G. Passeri 72, Pesaro
+39 0721 192 2156
info@museonazionalerossini.it

 

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