SCSU To Host Free Planetarium Concert Featuring Immersive Music by Minnesota Composers

(KNSI) – St. Cloud State University will host a free concert in its planetarium on Saturday, April 18th, featuring the ensemble Zeitgeist performing immersive works by Minnesota composers.

The concert begins at 4:00 p.m. in the SCSU Planetarium inside the Wick Science Building. A tour of the night sky will follow at 5:00 p.m.

The program is part of the MN Made Festival, which has named Zeitgeist as its spring ensemble-in-residence. The performance features the musicians with immersive films projected across the planetarium dome.

The concert takes its title from its centerpiece work, “The Blue in the Distance,” composed by SCSU Professor Scott Miller. The piece is set to a poem of the same name by Minnesota Poet Laureate emeritus Joyce Sutphen, who grew up in St. Joseph. Miller’s accompanying 360-degree film explores Quarry Park Reserve in Waite Park.

The work was originally created for virtual reality headsets but has been adapted for planetarium presentation. Miller said he believes the format will reach a wider audience in what he called an unusual venue for new music.

The program also includes “NORTH” by Mary Ellen Childs, an immersive work inspired by her participation in an Arctic Circle Expedition. The concert will also feature four movements from Asuka Kakitani’s “Twelve Months in Minnesota,” a work inspired by the natural beauty she discovered in Minnesota across the seasons.

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