Category Archives: Space Music

“Rocket Boys: the Musical” – on stage in West Virginia

August 12, 2013 TopSpacer

I’ve posted here several times over the years about Rocket Boys the Musical, which is based on Homer Hickam‘s famous Rocket Boys book (later the movie October Skys) about his building and flying rockets as a youth in a small coal mining town in the post-Sputnik period. The musical still hasn’t made it to Broadway but it seems to be a regular production in West Virginia: ‘Rocket Boys’ set to begin run Thursday – The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

It will play August 15-25 at the Theater West Virginia – Cliffside Amphitheatre. More at Rocket Boys: The Musical – Cliffside Amphitheatre

Find portions of the music here.

Space Music, Space participation

International Space Orchestra – goes to space

August 7, 2013 TopSpacer

I mentioned a couple of times (see here and here) the musical project International Space Orchestra, “the world’s first orchestra of space scientists”, which was organized by Nelly Ben Hayoun. Their work, “An Opera in Space”, actually went to space last week –

Recordings from Skywalker ranch, George Lucas’ studio have launched in space on 4th August on board of two ArduSat (satellites for which NanoSatisfi is the parent company). The lift off was taking place in Japan.

More at

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The press release:

GROUND-CONTROL: AN OPERA IN SPACE first performed by the International Space Orchestra (ISO) in September 2011 in front of the World Largest Windtunnel in NASA Ames Research Center, was Recorded at Skywalker Ranch, George Lucas’ Studio. The two ArduSat carrying ISO’s recordings were launched aboard the H-II transfer vehicle, HTV-4, also known as Kounotori-4.

Time and Date of Launch: August 4, 2013 (Around 4:48am, Japan Standard Time, JST) Transfer Vehicle: “KOUNOTORI-4″ (HTV-4)
Launch Vehicle: H-IIB No.4
Launch Site: Yoshinobu Launch Complex at the Tanegashima Space Centre
Audio Broadcast Method: Morse Code and Radio Waves

See the launch here

The broadcast of Ground-Control: An Opera in Space (27min) will be released by radio waves and morse code. One ArduSat will be broadcasting the voice, the other one the musical part, just like a real ’space’ orchestra. The International Space Station (ISS) launching of the two ArduSat will not be immediate after the rocket launch. It will depend on the ISS schedule. The broadcast will be radio waves and morse code. Time and Dates will be confirmed soon on www.nellyben.com and on this website.

‘Music washes from the soul the dust of everyday life. Much as science washes away the fallacies of how the world was formed and sustains itself… Good luck in your cosmic endeavours and may you truly make the music of the spheres.’

John W Boyd Senior Advisor to the Center Director of NASA Ames, the Senior Advisor for History and the Center Ombuds, letter to Nelly Ben Hayoun, August 13th, 2012

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An intro to the project:

The International Space Orchestra_ Official IFFR selection 2013 from International Space Orchestra on Vimeo.

Space Music

Video: Alan Parsons dedicates “Eye in the Sky” to Luca Parmitano

July 30, 2013 TopSpacer

Alan Parson dedicates a concert performance of Eye in the Sky to Luca Parmitano, the sixth Italian astronaut in space and first to go on a spacewalk: Alan Parson’s Project Dedicates Song to ISS Astronaut Parmitano – Universe Today

Caption:

On Tuesday, 23 July, the Alan Parsons Live Project played at the Foro Italico in Rome. Alan dedicated his classic song Eye in the Sky to ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano and recorded a video message that was sent to International Space Station. Eye in the Sky is one of Luca’s favourite songs, and on viewing this message, Luca said, “Fantastico!”

Luca Parmitano is the sixth Italian astronaut in space, but he was the first to really go ‘into space’ and leave the the protective shell of his spacecraft, when he made two spacewalks a few weeks ago during his Volare mission.

Video copyright: ESA/Alan Parsons Music
Sirius/Eye in the Sky written by: A. Parsons/E. Woolfson
Music excerpts, courtesy Alan Parsons Music
Video produced by ESA/M. Civita

Space Music

Music video: “The Thought of Floating in Space” by Simon Lacey with violinist Jack Liebeck

July 18, 2013 TopSpacer

Composer Simon Lacey points me to his new music video, The Thought of Floating In Space with Jack Liebeck on solo violin. It combines marvelous views of earth taken from the International Space Station with gorgeous music.

The work is part of Lacey’s project A Quarter Of A Million Miles, which was inspired by Michael Collins’ famous book Carrying The Fire in which Collins described his role as the Command Module pilot during the Apollo 11 mission.

Collins’ poetic and eloquent account conveys the infinity and beauty of space and tells the story of humans pushing themselves up to (and possibly beyond) what was thought possible. The style and sound of the music is an attempt to evoke this story – melodic classical influences combined with a modern, cinematic production, half of the pieces featuring a classical soprano and the others having a solo violin at the forefront. Real instruments are combined with sound effects, atmospheres, synths and snatches of speech from the Apollo mission to give the pieces a unique flavour.

The status of the album:

The first recording sessions for A Quarter Of A Million Miles took place in London in December 2012 with some very exciting and talented collaborators and the album is scheduled to be completed in 2013. The soprano parts are sung by classical chart topper and Classical Brit nominee Natasha Marsh and the violin solos were performed by Jack Liebeck, who was recently featured on the soundtracks to the films Jane Eyre and Anna Karenina and was a Classical Brit winner in 2010 for Young British Classical Performer.