Ellerslie Flower Show hosts 1st Soundscape Garden

Ellerslie Flower Show hosts first Soundscape Garden

Ellerslie Flower Show visitors are this year being treated to the innovative Phonak Soundscape Garden which celebrates sound within a beautiful garden setting.

Designed by award winning landscape designer, Tim Feather, the garden is part of the Sunday Star-Times Exhibition Garden section.

Phonak specialises in the design, development and worldwide distribution of technologically advanced hearing aids, so it understands the importance of sound and how improving it can enhance a person’s quality of life.

Dr Keith said Tim was the perfect designer for the Phonak Soundscape Garden.

“Not only is Tim a talented and award winning landscape designer, but he understands more than many, the importance of sound,” said Dr Keith.

Tim has been hearing impaired since the age of 30 and he wears Phonak hearing aids.

The Phonak Soundscape Garden aims to celebrate sound in its many forms, said Dr Keith.

He said that the Soundscape garden symbolises Phonak’s involvement in sound by featuring stylised sound shells that form an acoustic backdrop for live performances.

As part of the Phonak Soundscape Garden “sound” entertainment will be featured during the afternoons, including performances by Lenny Sakofsky, Auckland Philharmonia’s Principal Percussionist. Phonak is a sponsor of the Auckland Philharmonia.

Lenny will be performing excerpts from a contemporary percussion piece by internationally acclaimed New Zealander John Psathas. The chosen piece was composed for Evelyn Glennie, the world-famous percussionist who is hearing-impaired. John also recently composed the music for the Athens Olympic Games opening ceremony.

When live music is not being performed, an intriguing Soundscape recording will play that adds another dimension to the garden experience.

At night the Soundscape Garden becomes a light extravaganza with a Sound & Light show performance that demonstrates how sound compliments visual experience. The soundtrack will feature NZ artists such as Trinity Roots and continues the Pacific theme.

Tim Feather

Tim is probably most well known for his 2003 Ellerslie Flower Show ASB Discovery Marquee creation which he was commissioned to create.

The theme for the marquee was “dreamgarden” and centred on the poem Kubla Khan by the 18th century poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It was the show’s largest single themed exhibit and measured 1000 square metres.

He is also well known for his 2002 Ellerslie Flower Show gold medal winning “Fire Garden” which was created for Living Earth Limited.

Phonak

Through its Soundscape Garden, Phonak is celebrating its involvement with sound in a creative and innovative way.

The Phonak Group offers a complete range of digital hearing instruments, along with high tech specialty products and complementary wireless communications systems.

Phonak’s head office is in Switzerland. Worldwide, the company employs 2,700 people and is the driving force behind the development of innovative hearing technologies.

Phonak New Zealand is committed to its goal of giving people with hearing loss unrestricted access to the rich world of sound – and access to all sounds that make life rewarding.

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