The Hampton Roads region is replete with beautiful outdoor settings—natural areas that invite walking, pausing, and gazing, and cityscapes filled with history. Walks through our beautiful region inspire admiration, imagination, contemplation...but do they also inspire music? Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Reid believes that they do, and she has created Ellen Reid SOUNDWALK, music specific to diverse environments, available for free via a GPS-enabled app. The experience is guided by the listener: the path you choose dictates the music you hear, and no two visits will be exactly the same.

Reid's past projects have illuminated settings like New York's Central Park and Los Angeles' Griffith Park. This spring, thanks to the Virginia Arts Festival, a SOUNDWALK has been created for Pleasure House Point Natural Area in Virginia Beach. The Virginia Arts Festival project marks the first time that composer Reid has curated two separate walks in the same region. The Virginia Beach walk through Pleasure House Point Natural Area showcases acres of sunlit water, tidal marsh, sandy shores, and maritime forest. There, SOUNDWALK will complement work at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Brock Environmental Center, a cutting-edge sustainable building that is a community hub for connecting with the environment. Each setting offers a distinct mood and personality, taken together both installations can be experienced as complimentary companion pieces.

Reid has created musical settings uniquely designed to illuminate these environments; performed by the world-class musicians of SOUNDWALK Ensemble, the music is tailor-made for the setting and can be experienced while following social distancing guidelines.

SOUNDWALK's premise is simple: Before you head out, just install the free app, and download a SOUNDWALK, hit "start", and begin walking!

For instructions and App download: https://www.ellenreidsoundwalk.com/download