SONOSYNTHESIS:
turning sound into connection
WHAT IS SONOSYNTHESIS? SONOSYNTHESIS is a creative, classical benefit concert series founded, produced, and performed by Cari Shipp, flutist in Charlottesville, Virginia established in 2017.
WHAT DOES SONOSYNTHESIS MEAN? Photosynthesis is turning light into energy, and SONOSYNTHESIS is turning sound into connection. At the center of each concert is connection - between musicians and audience, between community and benefitting organization - with sound as the catalyst.
WHAT IS THE MISSION OF SONOSYNTHESIS?: To connect with a wide ranger of listeners through excellent, creative musical performances that benefit local organizations while paying professional classical musicians.
HOW MANY CONCERTS AND WHO HAS BENEFITTED? Since 2017 there have been over sixteen concerts benefiting local organizations including IMPACT C’ville, AHIP Home Repair Nonprofit, The Women’s Initiative, New City Arts, The Alyssa House, VIA Centers for Neurodevlopment, International Neighbors, and more. There are generally between two and four SONOSYNTHESIS concerts per year. See past concert information here.
Connecting with local organizations
Working towards the vision of a more connected community, SONOSYNTHESIS supports local organizations both through fundraising and awareness.
Charlottesville, Virginia is home to a plethora of organizations doing critical work in the community. In some ways the high volume of choice creates a disconnect, a “where do I start?” for many who wish to contribute to this work. SONOSYNTHESIS invites individual organizations to share the spotlight so that audiences can learn about the work being done and connect with representatives of those organizations.
Benefitting organizations are featured in the promotional materials for concerts and are invited to give a brief presentation and meet with audiences at the performances.
Connecting with listeners, new or long-time
SONOSYNTHESIS concerts are hallmarked by charismatic performances and insightful program notes that will illuminate the music whether you don’t know the difference between Bach and Beethoven, or if Weburn is your favorite composer.
Don’t be fooled by her education, Cari has plenty of sass to counteract all that class(ical training), and she uses that sass to help make classical music more sassical. Cari is an intuitive, insightful, and curious artist who deepens each concert through explorations of theme, historical relevance, and human connection.
Sometimes creative program looks like innovation. In Pop-Up Classical (May 2019), à la Vh1 Pop-Up Video, Cari designed a series of slides with historical and humorous content which would (you guessed it) pop up at exactly the right moment. She also does classically, well, classical things like host a Schubertiade (October 2019) in which she performed almost the entire works of Schubert for flute. She also received many compliments for her detailed program notes for Poetry & Prose (October 2021) which are meant to be read while listening similar to reading tasting notes while drinking a glass of wine.
Connection between musicians
Often when freelancing musicians have the chance to play with others, it’s in the large-scale symphony orchestra or in a chamber ensemble that has been hired without any input from the individual musicians. In SONOSYNTHESIS, while Cari creates a cohesive program including theme, title, and in-depth program notes, it would not be possible without meaningful collaboration with other musicians.
This series has been privileged to host elite musicians such as Jeremy Thompson, piano, Colin Davin, guitar, and Shelby Sender, piano. When musicians like these bring their expertise and finesse to rehearsals, the result is greater than the sum of the musicians themselves. To work with musicians at this level on repertoire meant to support a local organization is truly a transcendent experience!