Guitar Hero brain Tod Machover calls on Torontonians to help compose a musical portrait of the city

Tod Machover, composer and professor at MIT’s Media Lab (it was his students who were inspired to create Guitar Hero), is teaming up with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and you (yes, you!), the citizens of Toronto, to create A Toronto Symphony: Concerto for Composer and City, premiering at the New Creations Festival next March. Torontonians are invited to capture the sounds of Toronto and submit them to the project’s Facebook page, blog or email. Machover encourages the submission of unique sounds (admittedly, our first thought was to submit the charming tune of the subway doors closing, too) that are recognizable as being quintessentially “Toronto.” Our suggestions: the evangelical Christian shouting man and the “Can you spare a penny, nickel, quarter, dime or dollar?” guy. Happy hunting!