The Sound Sanctuary is an immersive sound installation created by composer Garth Stevenson for the upcoming Barbes in the Woods event. A multitude of battery-powered speakers will be installed up in trees, behind bushes, and near the stream that runs through the property.  The composed music will be mixed to seamlessly integrate with the natural sounds of the environment. Over the past twenty years, Stevenson has created his own unique musical vocabulary by spending thousands of hours playing his 160-year-old double bass in nature, including in remote locations such as Antarctica and Siberia. 

Double bassist and composer Garth Stevenson, was raised in the mountains of Western Canada, where nature became his primary inspiration and the common thread between his life and music. His three full-length solo albums, Alpine, Flying, and Voyage, are informed by his experiences carrying his 150-year-old double bass to the woods, beach, desert and other remote locations including Antarctica and Tuva. Of Flying, iTunes praises, “Garth Stevenson joins the likes of Brian Eno and Sigur Rós as a practitioner of this ethereal yet accessible genre… ‘The Southern Sea’ offers the aural equivalent of effortlessly swimming underwater without ever needing to come up for air.” Stevenson attended the Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship and received a degree in Performance and Jazz Composition. He has appeared on David Letterman, Craig Fergusson, at Bonnaroo, and other music festivals in Europe, Japan, Russia, Canada, and South America.