Events

[SPECTACLE] It took a while for this writer to make sense of exactly what William Close does with whatever an Earth Harp is, but I think I’ve finally figured it out. The Earth Harp is a humongous harp—I’m still unsure exactly how big, as it’s listed as having somewhere between 24 and 36 strings that add up to about 1,000 feet in length. The harp is partially on stage, and partially kind of hanging over the audience and Close looks something like a Messiah figure shooting sound and lights from his fingertips as he plays it, sometimes straddled between it with arms extended like wings and head tilted back in ecstasy or agony—it’s hard to tell. It’s considered the “World’s Biggest Instrument” and along with him his band plays a few other oversized instruments, like a wall of drums and cymbals. As a band they play recognizable numbers, like the theme from Requiem for a Dream and Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata,” and it’s all accompanied by choreographed dancing and a light display. William Close and the Earth Harp Collective will perform at Artpark on Saturday, September 2 with the special addition of a performance of Big Bang by Plasticiencs Volants. The Big Bang performance features giant balloon-ish sculptures that are lit up spectacularly and fly around the audience at the end of sticks and strings producing a kind of cosmic, floating ballet. It’s probably all worth the price of admission, if only for the insane Instagram photos it’ll produce.