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Music

Nick Zinner Curates 41 Strings For A Belated Earth Day Concert

Sure, it’s a little late, but they still threw the Earth one hell of a party.

Last night Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) led an orchestral ensemble of 41 strings—violins, violas, cellos, electric and acoustic guitars, upright bass, electric bass, and some drums and synths thrown in for good measure—in a performance celebrating the 41st anniversary of Earth Day (which was actually on April 22, but what’s a few weeks between friends?). The evening was put on by Loomstate, an organic clothing brand that organized a performance of 40 Drummers for last year’s Earth Day.

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Zinner not only curated the evening but also composed original music for the occasion, in collaboration with Hisham Akira Bharoocha and Ben Vida of [Soft Circle](http://www.myspace.com/softcircle target=_blank). The 41+ musicians formed a circle with Zinner at the center, who rocked back and forth in time to the music in lieu of a conductor. Video screens surrounded the “stage” where visuals by Yoshi Sodeoka, E*Rock and Dawn of Man swelled and changed colors to the gorgeous, sentimental melodies pouring forth from the strings.

An unexpected highlight of the night was an interactive installation from artist Ernesto Klar, housed in an adjacent room. Called “Parallel Convergence,” the piece explores the threshold between the perceptible and the imperceptible. Using everyday items like a video camera, a spotlight, a projector, a fan, and some speakers enhanced by custom software, Klar attempts to visualize dust particles passing through the air, turning each particle into a paintbrush. The movement of the dust is also personified in sound as well as visually, with a soundtrack of tinkering chimes composed by Klar himself. All night long, visitors were scooping up handfuls of dust and blowing it towards the camera like so much magic fairy dust.

We were on hand to document the occasion and will be creating a video about the making-of process, with exclusive footage of the concert, so stay tuned. In the meantime, watch the video of Ernesto Klar’s installation below:

Image courtesy of Dave X Prutting/BFAnyc.com