How a Nonverbal Autistic Teen Turned His Communication Triumphs Into a Collaborative Symphony, ‘Unforgettable Sunrise’
variety.comChris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Stories about nonverbal autistic teens rarely galvanize the public imagination.
But when one such youth has made the transition in a few short years from having a limited ability to communicate to having co-written a symphony, people are going to take notice, and be touched.
That’s the case with Jacob Rock, a 19-year-old from Eagle Rock, Calif. who had the vision for — and was fully involved in the execution of — “Unforgettable Sunrise,” a 70-minute symphonic piece that premieres Saturday night at Glendale’s Alex Theatre.
A video report on Rock and his collaborator on the symphony, Rob Laufer, by SoCal public television station KQED has proved so popular, a TikTok excerpt has registered 1.8 million views this week, along with 272,000 likes and 2,200 comments, many of them from viewers with autistic family members. (Watch the video that’s gone viral, below.) Laufer wrote and arranged the score for “Unforgettable Sunrise” based on very detailed notes Rock wrote out describing the instrumentation, mood and even timing of the piece he had in his head, down to the seconds each passage should last.
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