By Joe Hadsall
jhadsall@joplinglobe.com
While at a National Public Radio convention, the sound coming from Carolyn Anderson Surrick’s hotel room jarred Neal Conan, host of “Talk of the Nation.”
Not in a bad way, though. The sound was made by Surrick practicing on her viola da gamba. The instrument is a type of violin, with the range of a cello, held between the legs instead of under the chin.
“It was haunting,” Conan said. “Since then, I’ve been lucky enough to spend more time with (her group, Ensemble Galilei). I think I’ve heard them more than any non-member.”
The incident led Conan to collaborate with Ensemble Galilei, a string and percussion group that plays Celtic and early music. One of the products of that work will be a feast for the eyes and ears this Friday.
“A Universe of Dreams” features music from the ensemble, narration by Conan and a presentation of images taken from the Hubble Space Telescope. The show, part of the Pro Musica Joplin season, will be presented today.
It is funded in part by EaglePicher Technologies LLC, the Missouri Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts under the Arts and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Musical influence
Surrick said the ensemble’s name comes from two different men in the Galilei family. The obvious link is to the astronomer Galileo Galilei, who is regarded as the father of modern observational astronomy. Surrick said the group’s formation occurred the year that the Hubble telescope first took orbit.
But Galileo’s father, Vincenzo Galilei, also had a role in the group’s name.
“He and his friends thought that music didn’t have enough passion,” Surrick said. “We wanted to create something different. We were founded on the principle that we wanted to play music passionately.”
The members of the group — including Surrick, violinists Hanneke Cassel, Ginger Hildebrand and Allison Edberg, woodwind player Kathryn Montoya, harpist Sue Richard and percussionists Danny Mallon and Jackie Moran — have backgrounds in classical and Celtic musical traditions.
The group plays Irish and Scottish songs, early and medieval music and original compositions. The music is compelling, Surrick said, because it is full of melody-driven phrases that have been cherished by many generations.
“When people in the U.S. of European ancestry come to music that would have been heard by their great-great-great-great grandparents, they really get it,” Surrick said. “It’s a brain stem moment.”
Despite the power of the music, Conan said he was most impressed with the ensemble’s attitude about giving priority to spoken passages.
“It’s been a revelation to work with them, in their willingness to make room for words, because I’m talking over them a lot,” Conan said. “They are all great virtuosos, but I have found they leave room for me to interpret.”
Collaboration
For anything to be good enough for performance, Surrick said, it has to pass “the goosebump test.”
“We all agree that we have to adore a piece before we put it in the show,” Surrick said. “Conan reads aloud while we put music to text. When we have the right piece of music, everyone knows.”
Before “A Universe of Dreams” was subjected to that test, it was inspired by a long-distance phone card.
Surrick had spotted the plastic card at a convenience store in Lincoln, Neb. In addition to selling 32 minutes of phone time for $5, it was adorned with one of the many images from the Hubble telescope available for viewing from NASA.
“I looked at that and realized that those pictures really are in the public domain,” Surrick said. “I thought that we could use those pictures better.”
Surrick worked with the public relations department at NASA and got access to many of the telescope’s awe-inspiring pictures of the universe. The ensemble paired those pictures with its brand of music and Conan reading a Navajo creation myth along with works from Stanley Kunitz, Jim Harrison and William Shakespeare.
Conan said that they’ll likely practice for an upcoming project involving photographs and literature from the New York Metropolitan Museum.
“Because we’re all from different places, we only get together on the road,” Conan said. “When we get together in a place like Joplin, that’s when we get to work on a new show.”
Want to go?
Ensemble Galilei will present “A Universe of Dreams” at 7 p.m. today at Central Christian Center, 410 Virginia St. The concert is part of the Pro Musica Joplin series.
While in Joplin, the group will also perform at a couple of schools and give a private concert to Edward Jones clients.
Hubble no trouble
The Hubble Space Telescope orbits 353 miles above the Earth and transmits pictures from its Cassegrain reflector. The mirror used to collect light is actually smaller than many ground-based telescopes, but because it doesn’t look through Earth’s atmosphere, it returns pictures with remarkable clarity.
It is named after astronomer Edwin P. Hubble, of Marshfield, who proved that the universe is expanding.
