In Saturday’s (4/12) Duluth News Tribune (Minnesota), Christa Lawler writes, “MASS Ensemble’s artistic director William Close powdered his wool-gloved hands with rosin dust, and manipulated the world’s largest harp by pinching and stroking the brass lines. Flecks of rosin glittered like rain in the spotlight on the stage. The sound had a dreamlike violin quality, a music Close likened to running fingertips along the lip of a crystal glass. The Earth Harp, which was installed over the course of five hours on Thursday and Friday, will be played during the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra’s annual fundraiser, the Symphony Soiree, today at Clyde Iron Works. The 100-foot string instrument extends from a stage at one end to the rafters at the other end of the 14,000-square-foot space with 39-foot ceilings. Audience members will be seated beneath the angled strings, essentially part of the instrument when members of the DSSO and MASS Ensemble perform ‘Carmina Burana’ at the fundraiser. … MASS Ensemble is an internationally touring group that includes sculpture, music, and dance in its performances; its name stands for music, architecture, sonic, sculpture. While they have played with rock bands, today’s concert will be the first time they have paired with an orchestra. But it is a natural fit, Close said.”
Posted April 15, 2010
