Written by: Kim Moodey Chief Officer of Operations: TOP Sound Gallery Events
About two and a half years ago, my friend Christine Macdonald shared her idea with me over Skype. Maybe even then it was more of a glimmer of hope than an idea, but she said that she wanted to build a platform where her original composition could be played live to an audience. And not just her music, but music of her colleagues from University as well. When she explained this idea to me, I immediately knew I wanted to work on this with her. It was one of those moments where you feel you've caught a big fish, you can tell by the tugging, and all you know is to not let go of the pole. This is going to be a big one.
Christine and I were best friends from the moment we sat next to each other in Music class at UCSD. We just work effortlessly together. After we graduated from college with a B.A. in Music, she moved to England and got married to her college love and I moved back home to Orange County. Not able to find work within our fields after school (like most of us nowadays) Christine found work at an Economic firm and I starting serving tables at please don't make me tell you where. This wasn't what smart, fresh out of college students should be wasting their time on! We were talented for crying out loud! But who would acknowledge that?? That's where are Skype conversation came into play. It happened in one night, when a tiny idea became shared with the world.
We thought to call ourselves the Transatlantic Orchestral Productions. We were the group of composers and musicians talented and fresh out of college, putting together events where our music could be listened to and enjoyed while raising money for charity. After coming up with this idea we knew we had to make it happen, so I flew out to stay with Christine in London January of 2011. We organized our event at a venue in East London called The Rag Factory. We served beer, wine and cookies to about thirty of our friends. I composed music as well as artistically edited videos to use as visual backdrops for Christine's piece, Andrew Carroll's piece and a few other pieces for our friends from UCSD. Without knowing what we were doing that night, we had succeeded in so many ways. We had raised about ₤200 for the Clarity Foundation, brought our little community together to enjoy our art and we had people asking us, “When and where will the next TOP event be?” We had found gold. This gold is where our passion lies.
After our event in January we brainstormed for awhile of where TOP could go. Christine remained in London where she began finding more and more opportunities with local musicians and venues and I ventured down to Paris. By fall of 2011, we fully became transatlantic when I decided to take an internship that would further my skills in video editing and where I could successfully organize an event for TOP on Californian soil. Andrew Carroll is an incredible composer and a close friend to both Christine and I. Andrew was the first composer I asked to be a part of the first US TOP event. Without hesitation, he agreed to another event with TOP . And not only that, he had an immediate passion for what Christine and I wanted to build. It was in the Fall of 2011 when the three of us became one: The Transatlantic Orchestral Productions.
Throughout the course of 2012, Christine organized events all around the UK and Andrew and I worked on events throughout Southern California. As each event grew bigger and bigger, we eventually realized we had formed a loyal and steady following of fans. We had become not only a place where young, talented students and fresh out of college professionals could find work, connections and opportunity, but we had become a community of hope. A community of support for people living in their own passionate world of art.
By the end of 2012, we were able to incorporate ourselves as an LLC where each of our events provide paid work opportunity to our helpful staff members and to our extremely talented and passionate quartet. When we began our tiny little idea, we knew it would become great enough and important enough to share with the world.
Sound Gallery Events aim to build contacts and job opportunities for students and post graduates within the arts. Long live a beautiful world, a beautiful world filled with passionate people.
The Transatlantic Orchestral Productions is an LLC and organizes events known as Sound Gallery Events. Join us this Saturday June 29th 2013 at the Artspace Warehouse for our Sound Gallery Event: Los Angeles. Tickets are still being sold and are $20. You may purchase them on our website at:
TOPSoundGallery.com Or at the door upon arrival. Proceeds go to furthering opportunity within the arts and for future Sound Gallery events and community projects. Event starts at 7pm and purchase of a ticket will buy food, one free drink from our full bar and a seat to TOP's movie premiere of The Captain. Directed by Catherine Wolf and scored by Andrew Carroll. Other entertainment includes music by Brandon Thomas de la Cruz, Kim and Hannah, Groove Monsters Alex Yoon and Kyle from the Donuts as well as photography exhibits from Jeff Tang and Bobby Lee. Fully catered by Christopher Carroll.
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