Entertainment
Does adding scents to a symphony make sense? Scriabin and synethesia in San Francisco
It was a cold and wet afternoon as I strolled down forlorn Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley. A countercultural thoroughfare in the late 1960s, the street retained next to nothing of its once colorful flower power. But all of sudden, I smelled incense and heard a recording of Messiaen’s psychedelic “Turangalila-Symphonie.” Annapurna, the head shop that opened in 1969 at the same time as the historic demonstrations at the now boarded-up People’s Park, has survived.
The combination of this specific smell and music, so familiar from my student days here, acted like some kind of nostalgia drug. For an astonishing moment, I was transported back in time. But even more mysterious, it was music, scent and color that recently brought me to the Bay Area in the first place.
The San Francisco Symphony happened to be experimenting with scents in the concert hall for Scriabin’s “Prometheus, The Poem of Fire,” a 20-minute symphony that includes solo piano. The mystical Russian composer experienced synesthesia, the neurological condition in which the brain involuntarily associates one sense with another. Scriabin’s brain — as had, coincidentally, Messiaen’s — ascribed specific colors to specific harmonies.
In “Prometheus,” Scriabin went so far as to include a part for “color organ,” a newly invented instrument that projected colored lights, in his 1910 score. But instead of one color blending into another for dramatic effect, the result was murky gray. Technology has evolved, and Jean-Yves Thibaudet, San Francisco Symphony’s soloist, had long dreamed of adding more senses to the Scriabin mix. Why not scent? The orchestra’s music director, Esa-Pekka Salonen, was intrigued.
I was dubious. Smells linger. As a kid enamored of movie gimmicks, I cajoled my parents to take me to the 1960 Smell-O-Vision “Scent of Mystery,” which had dozens of everyday odors blown from under your seat. By the end, there was an all-purpose stink in the theater. It was disgusting.
Mathilde Laurent, a perfumer at Cartier in Paris, created three original scents for “Prometheus.” Capsules of dry concentrate were projected from diffusers under every third seat. Large wooden devices around the hall chilled and dried the air, so the scents didn’t linger. That sort of worked.
A corona of neon tubes overhead and along the walls of Davies Symphony Hall looked cheesy but approximated Scriabin’s color concept. That sort of worked as well.
“Prometheus” is an extraordinary score, Scriabin’s extravagance going far beyond synesthesia. Written for large orchestra and inspired by Madame Helena Blavatsky’s Theosophical Society, the symphonic tone poem is a fantastical transformation of the Greek myth of Prometheus, who steals fire from the gods. Scriabin’s rich mix of erotic and spiritual ecstasy follows the mystical process of humankind (the piano), in the form of an all-encompassing ego (brass assert in endless refrain an “I am” theme) arising out of imperceptibly quiet, inchoate chaos and merging into earsplitting, delirious joy, in which an otherworldly chorus joins.
The lighting effects are intended to be full of symbolic intent. There are themes of creative principle and will and the like. Blue, for instance, is overcome by the yellow of the sun, and that is supposed to mean something. But nobody’s going to get that.
The scents supposedly have been added for a different purpose. The highly publicized event caught the attention of the weekly British magazine New Scientist, which points out in its latest issue that olfaction bypasses reason. Smell stimulates the parts of the brain tied to memories and emotions, just as Annapurna’s incense had done for me. Presumably, then, the art of olfaction can ready our minds for new experiences.
At a preconcert talk for the Sunday matinee, which I attended, Laurent described her first scent as evoking a sense of anxiety at the start, where the music represents the world before civilization. It was a bit fungal. She selected a perfume she had already invented for Cartier, sweet and sexy, to accompany fire and passion. The last one was grassy for joy.
Maybe it was just me, but the scents landed on the wrong part of my brain, knocking on reason’s door. Scriabin leaves you with enough questions as it is, and here were more. Salonen’s and Thibaudet’s sensational performance of “Prometheus” — transparent, nuanced and colorful — had no need for further tickling the senses.
Michelle DeYoung and Gerald Finley sing as Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts Bartók’s “Duke Bluebeard’s Castle.”
(Brandon Patoc / San Francisco Symphony)
A further revelation came after intermission with an even more impressive concert performance of Bartók’s “Duke Bluebeard’s Castle” that demonstrated the radical difference between theater and synesthesia. The neon lights this time underscored the atmosphere — red for blood dripping in the castle’s creepy rooms, green for grass. Neither annoying nor augmenting, they were merely obvious.
But in one of the most magnificent orchestral climaxes in symphonic literature, when Bluebeard opens a door revealing a vast landscape, Salonen turned to face the audience as he conducted, and the hall burst into brilliant daylight. Dazzling illumination and overwhelming orchestral effect, not color, made this heart-stopping.
Otherwise, this “Bluebeard” needed no theater, thanks to Salonen’s unerring sense of drama, along with ideal soloists — an entrancing Breezy Leigh (the narrator), soul-searching Gerald Finley (Bluebeard) and radiant Michelle DeYoung (Judith).
I was in Berkeley on Saturday for one of Kronos Quartet’s “Five Decades” programs, celebrating the groundbreaking group’s 50th anniversary. The program at Zellerbach Hall included Sofia Gubaidulina’s Quartet No. 4, one of the well over 1,000 Kronos commissions.
It just so happens that Gubaidulina is another Russian synesthete with a strongly spiritual bent, and she included color lighting effects in her score. Among its multitude of innovations, Kronos had pioneered performing its chamber music concerts with lighting design shortly before the 1992 Gubaidulina premiere in Carnegie Hall.
That had been advertised as a big deal in New York. The work uses recorded string quartet sounds on tape along with the live performance. Gubaidulina wanted one kind of lighting for what she called “unreal” sounds of bouncing balls on the strings on tape and another for “real” live sounds. I remember the music from that premiere but don’t recall the lighting being much of anything.
At Zellerbach, Gubaidulina’s quartet was given as part of a wildly mixed program highlighted by the world premiere of Javanese composer Peni Candra Rini’s “Segara Gunung,” which featured her as arresting vocalist. For arresting visual effect, she included shadow puppet theater.
I ran into the Kronos first violinist, David Harrington, at “Prometheus” on Sunday and asked him about the decision to leave out Gubaidulina’s desired lighting. He said Kronos never used Gubaidulina’s lighting even for the Carnegie premiere. He felt it was too garish for this exquisite score.
Live performance is theater. Lighting, movement, design, staging, acoustic projection all have their place, and maybe scent can as well. But you need a director who can translate a synesthesia vision onto the stage.
Salonen, in fact, had just that in a “psychedelic night” at the Hollywood Bowl a quarter century ago, when he was Los Angeles Philharmonic music director. For that, Peter Sellars related “Prometheus” to Native American ritual. The scents were from whatever the party next to you brought for a picnic dinner, or a furtive puff of marijuana.
The sixth outing in the director’s chair for filmmaker Kirk Jones, I Swear dramatizes the real-life story of touretter John Davidson (played by Robert Aramayo). Tourette’s Syndrome, for those unfamiliar with the condition, is a nervous system disorder that causes various tics, the most prolific being erratic and explicit language. However, as I Swear expertly showcases, the syndrome is far more than ill-timed outbursts of curse words. Davidson’s story is one of societal frustration, finding your people (both with and without the condition), and using your voice to help others rise. The subject and subject matter are handled with absolute care and understanding under Kirk’s measured vision and Robert Aramayo’s BAFTA-winning performance.
The film kicks off with the greatest exclamation to democracy ever uttered (*%#! the Queen!), as a nervous John Davidson prepares himself before entering an awards ceremony hosted by Britain’s royal family. Right away, the film tells us what it is: a triumph over adversity that blends humor and human drama with education. It’s an important setup, as the film flashes back to Davidson’s 1980s youth, where we see his time as a star soccer recruit flatline as his condition takes hold. Davidson’s life spirals from there. Some aspects, like school bullying and accidental run-ins with authority figures, are expected but important to empathizing with young Davidson’s (young version, played with heart by Scott Ellis Watson) new everyday life. The more tragic, a complete meltdown of his family system, is unsettling if quick. His father (Steven Cree) is never given enough screen time to explore his alcohol coping tendencies. However, his mother Heather’s descent into easy fixes and blaming is crushing and convincing. Harry Potter series actress Shirley Henderson (Moaning Myrtle) gives a layered performance as Heather. Someone who loves her son, but also feels cursed by him as the entire family exits the picture. It’s bitter, she’s tired, and fills each conversation with ‘only medication and your mother can save you’ energy.
From there, the viewer and Davidson find refuge in a host of characters. Maxine Peake plays Dottie, the mother of a childhood friend and a retired mental health nurse. Screen vet Peter Mullan plays maintenance man Tommy Trotter. Together, they help Davidson build a life and an understanding of himself that carries the film forward into its second half. After that, the film is primarily a 3-actor show as director Kirk fills the screen with these tour-de-force performances. Peake and Mullan are great vessels to get the film’s main message across: patience, love, and a shared responsibility between the diagnosed and those who understand their struggle can help change the path for people quickly left behind by a normative world. Together, they are the soul of the movie, with the filmmakers clearly hoping the audience will follow their lead after they exit the theater (in my case, the beautiful Oriental Theater for the Milwaukee Film Festival). Both performances are perfectly warm and reflective and shouldn’t be left out in discussions of I Swear.
I say this because the movie is anchored by The Rings of Power actor Robert Aramayo, who leaves Elrond’s elf ears behind to bring an acute naturalism to his performance of main character John Davidson. Aramayo’s physicality and timing of the fitful Tourettes Syndrome never feel out of place or overplayed. In fact, the movie as a whole does an amazing job of never veering into sentimentality. While many moviegoers left with tissues dabbing their eyes, the filmmaking never felt like it was forcing that reaction out of audiences. It straddles the line between feel-good and reality with every story beat and lands squarely on the side of letting the real inform our feelings. Anyone with an ounce of empathy will grasp the film’s message and hopefully take it with them into life.
I Swear continues at the Milwaukee Film Festival on Tuesday, April 21st, and releases nationwide April 24th, 2026, courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
Several private equity firms and Hollywood power players, including United Talent Agency and longtime agent Patrick Whitesell, have expressed interest in buying parts of Casey Wasserman’s music and sports management firm after it abruptly went up for sale.
Wasserman became ensnared in controversy earlier this year after his salacious decades-old emails to Ghislaine Maxwell, an accomplice of child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, were released as part of the U.S. Justice Department’s trove of Epstein files.
The agency auction is in the early stages, according to three people close to the process but not authorized to comment.
Earlier this week, several interested parties submitted proposals to meet a preliminary deadline in the auction, two of the sources said.
The company, which changed its name to the Team last month, is expected to be valued at around $3 billion.
Providence Equity Partners holds the majority stake. The private equity firm has discussed selling the entire company or carving off Wasserman’s minority interest. Providence also has considered selling the bulk of the firm and staying on as a minority investor, one of the sources said. Another scenario could involve separating, then selling the individual business units that make up the Team.
Wasserman and Providence’s company boasts an enviable roster of music artists, including Kendrick Lamar, Coldplay and Ed Sheeran. Its sports marketing practice is viewed as particularly lucrative and has potential to grow in value as big dollars flow into sports that draw large crowds.
Wasserman, who declined to comment, has a veto right over any sale of the company that he has spent a quarter of a century building.
UTA, which also declined to comment, is among the most aggressive suitors, the sources said. The Team’s sports marketing and music representation divisions would dramatically boost the Beverly Hills agency’s profile and client roster.
Whitesell, former executive chairman of Endeavor, separately has been motivated to make investments in sports, media and entertainment since last year when he left the talent agency that he and Ari Emanuel built. Whitesell launched a new firm with seed money from private equity firm Silver Lake, and last spring he started WIN Sports Group to represent professional football players.
Whitesell wasn’t immediately available for comment.
European investment firm Permira also has expressed interest, according to a knowledgeable source. Permira declined to comment.
The New York Times first reported that Permira, UTA and Whitesell had expressed interest.
The sales process is expected to stretch into summer, the knowledgeable people said. The auction could become complicated particularly if Providence decides to unwind the business.
For example, UTA could not buy the entire company because of the Brillstein television unit. The agency is bound by an agreement with the Writers Guild of America that prevents it from owning television production.
Investment bank Moelis & Company is managing the sale. A representative of the firm declined comment.
Wasserman also is the chairman of LA28, the nonprofit group that will be staging the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in two years.
Following revelations of Wasserman’s 2003 emails with Maxwell, several musicians and athletes — led by pop artist Chappell Roan and soccer star Abby Wambach — said that, to stay true to their values, they would leave the agency then known as Wasserman.
Wasserman apologized to his staff for “past personal mistakes” and said he would sell the agency.
He had limited dealings with Epstein, flying on the financier’s jet along with former President Clinton for a September 2002 humanitarian trip through Africa.
Wasserman, a prolific Clinton fundraiser whose legendary grandfather, Hollywood titan Lew Wasserman, helped the Democrat win the 1992 presidential election, was joined on Epstein’s jet by his then-wife, Laura, actor Kevin Spacey, Epstein, Maxwell — who was convicted of sexual abuse in 2021 — and others, including security agents.
The LA28 board’s executive committee unanimously voted to keep Wasserman as chairman, citing his “strong leadership” of the Games.
Pizza Movie (2026) Director: Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney, Star: Gaten Matarazzo and Sean Giambrone
Somehow, I got through an hour of this movie. I was seconds away from turning off in the first fifteen minutes because of the juvenile humor. Pizza Movie is too silly, repetitive, and the characters are annoying. Stranger Things Gaten Matarazzo and Sean Giambrone star as college friends, Jack and Montgomery. College angles are rarely seen in films right now, and that’s the one saving grace of the film. Similar to high school, people are also trying to fit in. The story and visuals were too corny. You can only watch someone’s head exploding for so long without letting yours.
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (2026) Director: Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, Stars: Chris Pratt, Charlie Day, Anya Taylor-Joy
I never saw the first Super Mario Brothers Movie when it was out, but I heard it got positive reviews. My brother always loved playing Super Mario video games as a kid, and I’d watch him. I tagged along with my friends to see Super Mario Galaxy Movie, and it’s a cute and fun film. I like it when movies explore the video game world. The animation creates unique worlds and characters. The characters are split into their own storylines, and for me, I felt like it worked. It adds more action, especially for kids who are seeing the films.
Emily in Paris Season 5 (2025) Creator: Darren Star, Stars: Lily Collins and Ashley Park
After a bright spot in season 4, I thought season 5 of Emily in Paris would continue its growth in the story and its protagonist, but no, it’s all drained out in the usual Emily (Lily Collins) mishaps. Ashley Park (Mindy) has become too good for this show. Emily and Mindy waste several opportunities because of their love lives. The whole relationship angle is ruining it. I don’t understand why Alfie (Lucien Laviscount) is still in the show. I thought writers learned their lesson, but by the last episode, they’re continuing to bring the past into an apparent season 6.
Sarah’s Oil (2025) Director: Cyrus Nowrasteh, Stars: Naya Desir-Johnson and Zachary Levi
There’s always history lurking right beneath our noses. Sarah’s Oil (2025) tells the true story of Sarah Rector, an Oklahoma-born African American girl who became the first black female millionaire in the U.S. Naya Desir-Johnson is fierce and driven as Sarah. Zachary Levi is also along for the ride as Bert, a man who helps Sarah. Kate (Bridget Regan) was another favorite character as an intelligent woman. Cyrus Nowrasteh was drawn to the subject for its story and its themes. Nowrasteh’s direction is compelling as he unearths a hidden story from history. The film is streaming on Amazon Prime.
Jack Goes Boating (2014) Director and Star: Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Ryan
Jack Goes Boating (2014) didn’t quite work for me, largely because of its slow pace and uneven storytelling. The film stars the late Seymour Hoffman as Jack, who also directed the film. This was Hoffman’s first and only time in the directing chair. Amy Ryan also stars in the film, giving a solid performance. This was also based on a play that Hoffman starred in. Jack wants to participate in a swim championship. That’s hardly what the film is about, tracking other characters’ stories. While the film aims for quiet intimacy, it ultimately drags, making it an underwhelming viewing experience.
You Kill Me (2016), Director: John Dahl, Stars: Ben Kingsley, Tea Leoni, Luke Wilson
Meet You Kill Me (2016), yet another film that I found in the museum of underrated gems. The concept revolves around Frank (Ben Kingsley), a hitman, who is sent to an A.A. meeting to get his mind focused again. A different story happens, where Frank falls in love with Laurel (Tea Leoni). Leoni is one of my favorite actresses. It also stars the funny Luke Wilson. I liked the trio’s dynamics. You Kill Me is a mental health movie. It’s okay to make changes if you’re not happy. I recommended that you keep an eye out for this movie.
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