SONOSYNTHESIS: the fusion of sound

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? SONOSYNTHESIS means the fusion of sound. Yes, Cari made it up.

WHAT IS THE MISSION OF SONOSYNTHESIS?: The mission of SONOSYNTHESIS is to produce top-tier musical performances that are accessible to a wide range of listeners in partnership with organizations working for justice and peace in our community. Proceeds are increased by the ensuring performances are of the highest quality which means paying professional musicians a fair wage.

HOW MANY CONCERTS AND WHO HAS BENEFITTED? Since 2017 there have been over twelve concerts benefiting local organizations including IMPACT C’ville, AHIP Home Repair Nonprofit, The Women’s Initiative, New City Arts, The Alyssa House, and more. There are generally between two and four SONOSYNTHESIS concerts per year. See past concert information here.

Fusing local music with local organizations

Seeking to make a meaningful impact in her community, Cari sought to produce professional classical music concerts that would connect with a broader range of listeners while supporting organizations doing the work of justice and peace.

Cari donates the proceeds of each concert after paying those who made the concert possible a fair wage, unless they request to donate their services to a local organization. She has teamed with IMPACT C’ville, The Alyssa House, New City Arts, and Thomas Jefferson Adult Career Education as well as a concert for RAICES Texas which, while not local to Charlottesville, is local to Cari’s home town of El Paso, Texas.

Working towards the vision of a more connected community, the hope is that supporters of these organizations will learn about the arts community in Charlottesville while patrons of classical music will learn about local organizations serving our community.

Fusing the sounds of music

Most music is not made up of just one person playing one note at a time, though there is certainly a place for that! (see sonosynthesis: ONE, April 2022) But by fusing together the sounds of different instruments, different people, and sometimes different styles.

As a classically trained flutist, Cari’s tendency is to perform with other classical musicians and she has done so, sharing the stage in this series with elite musicians such as Jeremy Thompson, piano, Colin Davin, guitar, and Juliana Marin, soprano. She has also shared the stage with singer/songwriter (but also classically trained) Julie Bernstein, and literal rock star Parker Stanley (former member of Tim Be Told). She has also given a concert in which she fuses a live performance with recordings of herself! A one-woman show of solo flute music, as well as chamber flute music.

By bringing together different musicians and styles, the music making and listening experience is deepened.

Fusing classical music with relatability for everyone

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. This enhances the relatability of her programs, whether by including it in her concert Story of my Life concert (April 2018) or by creating a series of slides to play live at specific moments á la Vh1 Pop-Up Video in her concert Pop-Up Classical (May 2019). 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.

As most artists and professional musicians know, the skills that draw us in to this career are not enough to see us through. This concert series has provided the opportunity for Cari explore other ways of being creative and fuse those with her flute playing. Cari produces all of her SONOSYNTHESIS concerts which entails finding and booking the venue, hiring other musicians, and managing all advertising and communications with the benefitting organization, etc. While Cari is happy to do those things (control serves up a good dose of power), the real joy aside from performing (the best high) is coming up with the theme, writing all the material, and designing the posters/images.