Music has an incredible ability to convey emotion and set the tone, and it is an art captured perfectly at Rock City Nights: Flora Luna. Rock City’s newest nighttime garden event, Flora Luna intertwines culinary, art and garden beauty with illuminous sculptures and an original music score designed specifically for the experience.
The approximately 45-minute score, written by composer Tim Hinck, transitions between a smaller ensemble of instruments and a full orchestra.
Hinck adheres to a “maximalist” style of music: “Instead of retaining or distilling down to one single musical style, I like to use many styles in one piece,” he explained. As such, the Flora Luna experience is divided into four musical locations, each with distinct but blended sounds.
“At one location, you may hear something that sounds very classical, a solo violin for a second, and then lending into more of a jazz or a world sound, so using many styles at once,” said Hinck.
Musical compositions aren’t typically written for attractions, let alone a garden, but are typically reserved for museums or art exhibitions. However, Hinck was intrigued at the unique opportunity to work with Rock City.
The Chattanooga-based composer, whose performances have been heard across the country and in Spain and the Netherlands, treated his Flora Luna piece with the same tenacity, immersing himself in the gardens to fully grasp the sights and sounds of Rock City.
“I’m really kind of a feet-on-the-ground, a hands-on sort of composer, so when I get a commission or a new project, I like to go to the place that the music will be heard,” Hinck said. “I feel like music should be reflective of place, the people in the community that it’s for and the musicians that it’s for.”
Hinck’s past few years composing symphonic music for full on-stage orchestras is evident in Flora Luna’s score; expect to hear what he describes as cinematic, film score-esque sounds throughout the garden.
To Hinck, there’s no sound more magical than that of 80 to 100 musicians playing their hearts out.
“It’s something that the general public is rediscovering,” Hinck said. “Going to a full symphony is now becoming a little bit more of something that’s on people’s radar, and I think it’s because orchestras are doing a better job of reaching out to younger people.”
Click to learn more about composer Tim Hinck and samples of his work at timhinck.com/works/.