On Monday (5/23) at Chicago classical radio station WFMT, Stephen Raskauskas writes about the Chicago Sinfonietta’s recent Cosmic Convergence program, which “combines live classical music with video curated by Emmy-nominated astronomer Dr. José Francisco Salgado. Cosmic Convergence also celebrates 10 years of collaboration between the Sinfonietta and Salgado. ‘They asked me to collaborate to create a visual backdrop for two concerts of Gustav Holst’s The Planets,’ Salgado said…. The program was so successful that Salgado was inspired to start a non-profit, KV 265, dedicated to exploring science through art in the community. (KV 265 is the work number of a set of variations by Mozart on a tune that we now know as ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.’) … The Planets, which began Salgado’s collaboration with the Sinfonietta, is featured in Cosmic Convergence…. In addition to presenting celestial classics from the repertoire, Salgado also collaborates with living composers. For Cosmic Convergence, the Sinfonietta performs Borealis, a work John Estacio created in 1997, to which Salgado recently paired visuals…. He has combined 90 minutes of time-lapse footage taken from the International Space Station and paired it with the second movement of Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique.”
Posted May 26, 2016
