Cruising the Van Allen Belt in an Open Top Roadster (Alto Flute and Laptop)

This work was conceived to create an enveloping field of sound for the listener. The manner in which the Alto Flute is picked up by the computer, processed, and played back through the quadrophonic sound field, the listener is unaware which sound heard is the acoustic instrument and which is the processed. As a result, the listener is awash in layers of sound, rather than hearing a single instrument as the auditory focus on stage, with speakers providing a background accompaniment.

The scenario in which the piece lives was inspired, in part, by images of Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster mounted in the back of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket. This picture, released shortly after SpaceX's successful launch, depicts the vehicle in the payload bay with a spacesuit positioned as if an astronaut were cruising space with the top down. From here, different images came to mind, thanks to having seen countless hours of documentaries about space, space travel, and the intersection of science fiction and reality. Each of those mental images became a section of the work: "escaping from the restraint of gravity," "the stars twinkling across the heavens," "synchronous orbit with dark matter," and "captured by the unrelenting pull of gravity."

This work would not have been possible without the generosity from my friend, Baltimore-based flautist Anna Luther.