music on the bayou

Immersive new Buffalo Bayou art project tunes Houstonians in to curated music

Enjoy specially curated music while hanging at the park.

Photo courtesy of Buffalo Bayou Park

Houstonians looking to immerse themselves in visual and aural art are in luck, thanks to a new partnership with two beloved organizations. River Oaks Chamber Orchestra (ROCO) and Buffalo Bayou Partnership (BBP) have joined forces to create a new experience for park and bayou visitors.

In this new collaboration, visitors can explore miles of trails lining the Buffalo Bayou and discover QR codes posted at landmarks and public art works. Those codes each link to a specific piece of music performed by ROCO.

Each music item has been selected for each location or art installation and curated by the ROCO team, according to a press release.

Some of the works in the project include “Flying Sirto” by Erberk Eryilmaz at the Waugh Bat Bridge; Brad Sayles’ “Buffalo Bayou Suite,” near John Runnels’s steel canoe sculptures; Alexander Miller’s “ROCOmoji” (a “Concerto Grosso for Double Reeds”) second movement, titled “OMG,” at the Lee and Joe Jamail Skatepark; Alejandro Basulto’s “Tríptico de Luz” at the Hidalgo Park Historic Gazebo; and Shostakovich's “Ballet Suite” at the Sesquicentennial Park Monument that honors James A. Baker III.

ROCO’s repertoire has been chosen from 15 years of live performance recordings, and a mix of pieces by historical and contemporary composers. This includes 13 of ROCO’s own commissioned world premiere works, seven pieces by female composers, and 10 by composers of color. The Houston orchestra was recently named top in the U.S. for performing the works of women and number two for the works of composers of color in a recent study from the Institute of Composer Diversity.

“We are thrilled to host this project by ROCO along the Buffalo Bayou Park trails,” said Karen Farber, BBPs’s vice president of external affairs, in a statement. “Now those walking or riding along the bayou can experience their surroundings in a whole new way. We hope our visitors will explore all 40 sites throughout the fall.”

The music/park program will run through December 31, in celebration of the Buffalo Bayou Partnership’s fifth anniversary.

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a 14 minute tour

Museum of Fine Arts takes Houston to Paris cathedral with new virtual tour

Still image of digital rendering of Notre- Dame Cathedral, Ars Electronica.

Museum of Fine Arts courtesy image.

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston opens “Notre-Dame Immersive Experience.” (Still image of digital rendering of Notre- Dame Cathedral, Ars Electronica.)

Lovers of art and architecture around the world mourned when a 2019 fire destroyed significant portions of the exterior and interior of Notre-Dame Cathedral, one of the most beloved landmarks in all of France. After five years of intense rebuilding and repair, Notre-Dame is set to open again this December. For those who can’t make it to the reopening, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston has a very special virtual trip planned this holiday season with their just announced monumental installation, the “Notre-Dame Immersive Experience.”

Set within the MFAH’s vast Cullinan Hall, this animated, 14-minute, immersive presentation will surround visitors with images of Notre-Dame, simulating the experience of walking through the medieval cathedral. Viewers will go on a virtual journey from the outside of Notre-Dame as day turns to dusk, then move into the candle-lite interiors and stained-glass windows. The immersive video will also replicate the fire and its aftermath before revealing the cathedral’s newly reconstructed spire, topped with a cross and a golden rooster, a national emblem of France and a symbol of Christianity.

“It is difficult to exaggerate the role Notre-Dame plays in the public imagination, from its iconic architecture, emblematic of the Northern Gothic style, to its magnificent stained-glass rose windows,” Museum of Fine Arts, Houston director Gary Tinterow said in a statement. “When fire erupted five years ago, millions of people around the world grieved the loss of a monument that had personal significance to each of them. Happily, the cathedral has been restored, and now Houstonians will be among the first to experience the reconstructed building that rose from the ashes.”

“Notre-Dame Immersive Experience” was created by Ars Electronica Futurelab, in partnership with French start-ups Iconem and Histovery. To create a virtual 3D model of Notre-Dame, the installation uses point cloud data compiled by the late Belgian art historian and Vassar College professor Andrew Tallon, who created 3D laser scans of the cathedral in 2010 that proved instrumental in guiding the reconstruction of the cathedral as well as additional scans and 3D material by Histovery.

Over the years, we’ve come to expect perception-defying immersive artworks from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston every summer, but this “Notre-Dame Immersive Experience” November surprise looks to be a perfect place to take any visiting art, history, or Francophile friends and family for the holidays.

The "Notre-Dame Immersive Experience" will be on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston from November 23, 2024, through January 5, 2025.

Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston opens “Notre-Dame Immersive Experience.”

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