General Entertainment Associates in association with the European Space Agency (ESA) have announced the U.K. and European touring dates for Space Station Earth, created by award-winning composer Ilan Eshkeri. The European tour kicks off on 15th May 2022 at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall and will then continue its space journey throughout Europe.
Space Station Earth is a music-led, multi-media experience that allows the audience to see through the eyes of astronauts and to contemplate our planet, the stars, and the exploration of the universe. Featuring no dialogue or narration, audiences can expect to lose themselves in the extraordinary visuals and emotionally charged music and leave filled with awe and wonder.
The live performance takes audiences as close as possible to the unique world experienced by astronauts. In Space Station Earth, award-winning composer and show creator Ilan Eshkeri has combined his exceptional compositions with film from astronauts aboard the ISS as well as images from European Space Agency locations that have been filmed with unprecedented access and cutting-edge techniques. This mostly never-before-seen footage will be projected across three massive screens with a light show to create an incredible experience.
Humanity has long been fascinated by the universe beyond our planet. The few people that have experienced a voyage into space often express a similar sensation: the realisation that we are all traveling together through space and time on our own space station called Earth.
Speaking about the inspiration behind the show and his journey creating it, Ilan Eshkeri commented, My music has taken to me to many unexpected and extraordinary places, but when Astronaut Tim Peake got in touch to say he was a fan of my work a door was opened to one of the most amazing and inspiring journeys of my life, the result of which is Space Station Earth.
There are so many facts and figures about travelling to the International Space Station, but no one has ever told the emotional journey that astronauts go on. A journey that has startlingly similar experiences for astronauts from all corners of the world, and it was this realisation that inspired me to create Space Station Earth.
Deciding to direct the film element was ambitious for a composer. I had a sense of what I wanted to achieve and an incredible team both on location and in the edit. ESA provided unprecedented access, I got to see rocket launches, a zero-gravity flight, and a chance to get lost in their video archive as well as the opportunity to get advice from ESA scientists and Astronauts.
At the same time, I started creating the music with synthesisers. I spent a few days coming up with different ideas then I started to add strings, brass, and choir to deliver the awe-inspiring epic scale only an orchestra can.
Major inspirations were Kraftwerk, Jean-Michel Jarre, and Steve Riech as well as Koyanisquatsi, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Fantasia.
With Space Station Earth, music, film and staging come together to create the visceral and immersive experience of going to space and looking back at our home, a journey very few have undertaken, communicated to the audience thorough pure emotion.
ESA astronaut Tim Peake said of Space Station Earth, There aren’t many words that can truly describe the beauty of seeing Earth from space. But Space Station Earth attempts to do this, using music and video, to capture the emotion of human spaceflight and exploration. Featuring previously unreleased footage from ESA astronauts and accompanied by a live orchestra, the show creates a unique experience, one that that celebrates space and unites the audience, just as exploration unites humankind.
Space Station Earth will tour through the U.K. and Europe with special guest ESA astronauts who will participate in a pre-show Q&A with Eshkeri. The inclusion of these real-life heroes will give audiences the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear the first-person accounts of the few humans who have lived off the planet and how that has affected the way in which they appreciate and understand the world.
The International Space Station is a collaboration of 16 countries, one of the largest international collaboration of nations in history. It has been permanently occupied by people from these different countries, working together for over 20 years. It is both a pinnacle of human achievement and a beacon of hope that is a testament to what we can achieve when we work together.
It has been said that living on the space station you realise that if you don’t look after the vessel you are travelling in and you don’t look after your fellow travellers, you won’t survive the journey. Then, when you look down upon Earth, you realise that the same is true. We have to look after this planet we’re travelling on and we have to look after each other in order to survive the journey. This is the story of Space Station Earth.
