Composer Rob Kapilow
Photo: Peter Schaaf

The Marin Symphony has commissioned composer Rob Kapilow to produce a symphonic work that honors the Golden Gate Bridge, to be titled Golden Gate Opus.

Kapilow, who hosts the NPR show What Makes It Great, is using the sounds of the bridge as an integral part of the symphony.
“What does the bridge sound like?” Kapilow asks rhetorically. “Everyone knows what the bridge looks like. We wanted to depict what the bridge sounds like, the real world sounds that surround the nonstop life on the bridge.”

With sound engineer Fred Newman, Kapilow documented the noise produced by everyone who works on or near the bridge including toll takers, painters, tugboat captains, cops, shopkeepers, tourists, people working in the auto shop, even the wind, the water, and the sea gulls – as well as electrical workers.

“The electrical workers gave us a shock, so to speak,” Kapilow recalls. “It was amazing. They activated the emergency alert system just for us to record it. Don’t worry. They made it clear that it was only a test.”

He might have caught the sound of people in a panic.

“We went out on the Alma [the scow schooner built in 1891] to capture the sounds of San Francisco Bay, including Alcatraz,” Kapilow says. “We spoke with the captain and the crew on the boat. Everywhere we went, people were jumping out to help us.”

Kapilow is trying to locate archival material from newspapers, radio and TV to bring more historical color to the symphony. He’s interested in getting sounds from the opening of the bridge in 1937 and from the 50th anniversary celebration.

Then there is that dark side to the Golden Gate Bridge: the suicides. The “Golden Gate Opus”must be the only symphonic work that uses a former medical examiner as a collaborator. With the help of former Marin County coroner Ken Holmes, Kapilow gained access to suicide notes that some jumpers left behind. They were obtained, of course, with permission of the families.

“The bridge is many things to many people,” Kapilow says. “But I want people to find the fun in getting inside the bridge. That’s what I hope to get.”

Kapilow is still looking for ideas. Have any? Submit them to the Golden Gate Opus Facebook page at www.facebook.com/goldengateopus.

The first performance is scheduled for May 2012 to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge.