The Shul That Sings

Tour guides at the Eldridge Street Synagogue welcome visitors to the Moorish-style building near the Manhattan Bridge with stories from the 115-year-old structure's history. Thanks to composer Matthew Ostrowski, these days the building also speaks for itself. Or, rather, it sings.

Through the agency of a Power Macintosh G3 computer, Ostrowski's arrangement of whirling whispers, shuffling feet and shofar blasts fill the synagogue's soaring sanctuary in an audio installation called "The Singing Building."

Ostrowski, 40, who began composing electronic music in the 1980s' downtown improvisation scene, imagined he could excavate sounds that have been absorbed into the 70-foot-high prayer hall over time.

"The idea is that these sounds are still living there," Ostrowski told The Jewish Week. Normally, "they're just too quiet for us to hear."

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