The Glow Must Go On: How Sensorio’s FOSO Uses Music & Light to Go from Fiber to Feeling

Adam Montiel

There are certain nights in Paso Robles that don’t just end — they echo. You drive home a little slower. You talk less. You feel more. And if you were lucky enough to be at Sensorio for the launch of FOSO, you know exactly what I mean.

FOSO — the Fiber Optic Symphonic Orchestra — isn’t a concert and it isn’t a light show. It’s a fully immersive installation built to make you feel like you’ve stepped inside a symphony that’s breathing. Glowing. Listening back to you. It’s what happens when internationally acclaimed light artist Bruce Munro and Emmy-winning composer Nainita Desai say yes to collaboration and decide to speak to the senses all at once.

This is Bruce’s fifth piece at Sensorio. No other place in the world holds that much of his work in one setting. It’s a testament to the relationship that’s grown between Bruce and this place.

“I've fallen in love with the area, the people, the climate, the wine, the spirit of Paso Robles,” Bruce said. “There’s something very genuine about it, and it's found its way into the work.”

In separate conversations aired on Up+Adam and The Pour with Adam Montiel, Bruce talked about why he creates in light — how his earliest memories weren’t of things, but of feelings cast in color. He told me:

“It's very simple. A warmer heart and a lighter step. I know it sounds really corny, but if you can make somebody feel that they’re a happier person when they've seen something you've done, you've done a service — a positive thing to the world. That's what I try and achieve.”

Nainita came in with a different angle — but the same truth.

“I want to create a bit of joy out of the chaos in the world and a bit of beauty... This is the culmination of my life's work in many respects, because this is who I am at this moment in time.”

And baby, it shows.

The FOSO towers are these 32 illuminated monoliths that literally sing. You walk between them and the light doesn’t just shift — it dances to a custom orchestral score. If you’ve ever wondered what it would feel like to move through music, this is it.

This episode of Up+Adam goes deeper than the lights and the score. It gets into why we need beauty like this. Why we still crave awe. And why sometimes the most powerful thing a piece of art can do is not explain itself. Lika all of the pieces at Sensorio, it just glows. And in that glow, we remember we’re alive.

If you want to feel it for yourself, get tickets and info for FOSO at Sensorio, and go see it in person. Walk it. Feel it. Let it move through you. You don’t need to “get it.” You just need to be there.

Want to know more about the artists behind the experience? Visit Bruce Munro’s official site and Nainita Desai’s official site. Then listen to the original FOSO score by Nainita Desai and let the music meet you before you even arrive.

Because the glow must go on.

The full conversation with Bruce Munro and Nainita Desai is available now on Up+Adam, wherever you podcast and at AdamMontiel.com. A companion episode of The Pour — diving into how FOSO was built and why this installation is unlike anything in the world is also available wherever you podcast.