Garden of Memory
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Garden of Memory
The annual Garden of Memory summer solstice concert began in 1995 when Sarah Cahill was writing a cover story for the East Bay Express about public bathrooms of the East Bay.
In search of interesting bathrooms, she wandered into the Chapel of the Chimes and heard some distant organ music as she got lost in the maze of the building. Inspired by that combination of sensory stimuli, she conceived the notion of a walk-through concert held in the labyrinthine, where Julia Morgan designed the columbarium. Amazingly, the Chapel of the Chimes agreed to host the first event and has co-sponsored it ever since.
This “walk-through fun house of musical and visual splendor” features simultaneous performances in different spaces within the building by an eclectic collection of musicians presenting various acoustic and electronic music, installations, and interactive events. Getting lost is part of the experience as visitors move freely through the multilevel maze of gardens, cloisters, alcoves, stairwells, fountains, and other architectural elements, which rise into vaulted ceilings.