One of the watercolors by Michiko Theurer evoking Kahn.

The Center for Architecture is known for programming variety, but last Thursday night’s premier of Architect: a chamber opera was a first. Granted, the film premier benefiting the CFA Foundation wasn’t live opera, but it was the first time the public got to hear the piece by Lewis Spratlan.  The Pulitzer Prize winning composer’s music was paired with electroacoustical music by John Downey and Jenny Kallick, whose process involved “sound sampling” spaces designed by Kahn, such as the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California.  Spratlan’s music was then electronically “placed” within the various spaces.

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