Leave your mark on musical history Tuesday, July 9. Composer Tod Machover is creating “Festival City,” a  “sonic portrait of the city of Edinburgh” that will premier at the Edinburgh International Festival on August 27.  Machover is inviting everyone who loves and/or has a relationship with the city of Edinburgh to contribute Tuesday, July 9.

Here’s how it works:

• Machover has preselected the composers and pieces most frequently performed at the Festival since its inception in 1947. Machover and Boston-based pianist Tae Kim have linked these works together by connecting them with Machover’s personal musical material
• On the 9th, Kim will weave the repertoire fragments together in constantly evolving ways, following input from participants.
• Log onto to The Guardian at 2pm est Tuesday, July 9
• Use your mouse to provide real-time feedback on Machover & Kim’s selections
• Machover & Kim will use the real-time data to adjust the selections
• During the one-hour session, Machover & Kim will create three different versions of the composition – a 15-minute, 8-minute of 3-minute version (each version will build on data from its predecessor)
• Between each performance, Machover & Kim will discuss the previous version and how to make it tighter and more effective
• The final three-minute version will be captured in video, audio, MIDI and data versions, and will be used by Machover as he crafts the “repertoire fragments” section of Festival City over the coming weeks

Watch the video above for more information and log in here Tuesday, July 9 between 2-3pm EST to participate.

Tod Machover