There is something delightful about listening to orchestral music and looking up at the night’s sky, and this week I had a slightly different way of experiencing this by attending the Auckland Stardome’s new show Strings Under the Stars.
Reclining into a very comfortable seat under the dome of the planetarium I joined 75 other people to watch amazing visuals of the galaxy created by astronomer Rob Davison, (using Stardome’s state-of-the-art Digistar planetarium system), while listening to some beautiful music performed live by the Auckland Philharmonia string quartet.
These accomplished players were Miranda Adams and Charmian Keay playing violin, Ben Harrison playing a viola, and Ashley Brown playing the cello.
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There were three pieces from Holst’s The Planets – Venus, the Bringer of Peace, Mars, the Bringer of War, and Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity. These are all wonderful pieces of music, and to hear them while watching images and flybys of these incredible planets was awe inspiring.
The show began with a full shot of a horizon on Earth as the sun set. We see the arc of the milky way and as we make our way into the heavens some familiar constellations come into view – Taurus, Orion, Scorpio, and Matariki.
As well as Holst, there was a delightful piece of music in four movements by kiwi composer Kirsten Strom which was perfectly suited to the spectacular images which included thousands of galaxies, glorious nebulae, a journey around a black hole, and finally a tour of the sun.
The short season of this show is now sold out, but if it comes back, book a ticket, because what Strings Under the Stars delivers is an emotional reminder of the vastness and beauty of our universe and how our own existence on this stunning planet is so precious.
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