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Internationally Renowned Performance Group MASS (Music, Architecture, Sight & Sound) Blend Music, Art and Dance Around 'The World's Longest Stringed Instrument,' the Earth Harp

Posted on: Wednesday, 26 March 2008, 18:00 CDT

Emotionally compelling, multi-faceted entertainment like Cirque Du Soleil and Blue Man Group have created a worldwide desire for greater and more fascinating musical spectacles, but nothing in the past prepares audiences for the intense magic, beauty and kinetic energy they feel the first time they open their senses to the global phenomenon known as MASS (www.massensemble.com).

Imagine engaging your eyes and ears in a multi-sensory blend of sculpture, music, dance and visual arts while having the sensation of being inside an instrument that reaches from the stage to the back of the theatre, the top of a high rise building or across a canyon!

The most famous of MASS' fascinating creations is the Earth Harp, a large scale, architectural stringed instrument that can be set up in a multitude of environments, directly incorporating the surrounding architecture. The Earth Harp has captivated audiences at the Kennedy Center and the Space Needle in Seattle. The Earth Harp holds the record for the Longest Stringed Instrument in the world with strings that have run over 1,000 feet in length.

"Beyond the fascinating sounds it creates," says MASS founder and artistic director Bill Close, "the whole idea of 'stringing the earth' is a metaphor whereby we're keeping the earth in tune, creating music for and inspired by the earth itself. We're excited about bringing the earth harp and our other instruments to different places on the planet."

Performing dynamic instrumental and vocal music that draws from classical, rock, ambient, jazz and Latin influences, the multi-talented seven member ensemble--whose name is an acronym for Music, Architecture, Sight & Sound--plays a mix of traditional instruments like harp, percussion and violin in addition to visually and sonically compelling instruments that were created by Bill Close.

Inspired by a quote from legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who once said, "Architecture is frozen music," Close invented the first Earth Harp in 1999. In addition to the Earth Harp, Close has created hundreds of instruments ranging in size and scope from 3 inches to 1100 feet.

That far-reaching approach is the concept behind MASS' latest recording Planet String, the ensemble's third after Golden Sun and Nexus and their first in over three years.

Source: Business Wire

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