ACM Concert: Inner Worlds

I went to an event in Queens years ago in a old factory in a rundown part of town that featured six Steinway concert grand pianos placed strategically throughout the space.  Pianists played a piece that the composer had configured for the space. The music was spare and very lovely and we were invited to interact with it howsoever we wished as long as we were respectful.

Most people milled about but some of us lay down under a piano and let the sound gently wash over us.  As I lay there listening I had an idea for a concert. I thought what if we could put the audience inside the piano?

What if you could actually go inside the piano while composers made exotic music inside the piano, without using the keys?

It’s not possible to shrink people and place them inside the piano of course but we’re trying to do the next best thing.  Inner Worlds features music that ACM has commissioned to be played entirely inside the piano.

Because our concert series happens in a movie theater, we’ll place GoPro cameras inside the piano so you can see exactly how every sound is being produced.  Contact microphones inside the piano will bring the sounds into the room as if you were inside it.

It’s going to be a magical evening.

December 16, 7:30
Davis Theater
4614 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago
$20, $12 students

• Written by: Seth Boustead
• On: December 5, 2019