ZAP! is "truly electrifying!"

Will Spitz, The Boston Phoenix, "Out: Going Electric" 2/10/05

"Talk about an ELECTRIC performer!"

Providence Journal pop music writer Rick Massimo's preview :
"A High Power Show at the Museum of Science"

"as gently balladic (as it is) hard-driving and otherworldly"

Bob Young's preview from The Boston Herald/The Edge:
"Ensemble Robot creators `Zap!' preconceived ideas of electronic music"

 

"High-voltage Star-Power!"

MIT Tech Talk's preview & interview by Lynn Heinemann :
"Southworth Makes Music Outside the Rules"
ArtTalk: Christine Southworth, composer

 

Electrostatic Society of America review, by Humphrey Wong

Listings & Columns:

• Editor's Pick in The Boston Phoenix 2/4/05
  

FRIDAY 4 AVANT-GARDE
 The Museum of Science's 40-foot-tall Van de Graaff generator is an imposing one-trick pony - if you've seen one five-million-volt spark, you've about seen 'em all - but now a young composer is going to make it sing. Brown grad student Christine Southworth has written an hour-long piece called Zap! that calls for a chamber/rock set-up (keyboards, flute, guitar, bass, voice, percussion), "robotic instruments" programmed by a team of MIT/RISD engineers, and one mammoth sparking machine. Both the generator and Southworth are MIT alums: the composer studied with Evan Ziporyn and describes her work as Steve Reich-influenced, post-minimalist acoustic electronica; the museum's Van de Graaff (the world's largest air-insulated model) was built at MIT in the 1940s and is said to be fond of the Velvet Underground's White Light/White Heat. Zap! gets its premiere tonight at 6:30 p.m. at the Museum of Science, at Science Park in Boston, and it's free with museum admission, which is $14, $11 for children. Call (617) 723-2500.

• Boston Globe 48 Hours to Kickoff & Go! Column 2/4/05

48 hours to kick off: Come Sunday night, you'll be parked in front of the TV, waiting for the Pats to take the field. Here's what you can do to keep busy until then. February 4, 2005

FRIDAY 6 PM Quitting time at the Museum of Science involves electricity, robots, and vodka, but happily not in that order. Start with a martini at the Science Street Cafe. At 6:30, the 40-foot Van de Graaff electric sparking generator becomes the centerpiece of a concert called ''Zap!" featuring real and robotic musicians. $14 adults; $12 senior citizens; $11 children. Science Park, Boston; 617-723-2500.


GO! WEEKEND By Amy Graves  |  February 4, 2005

HIGH ENERGY The towering Van de Graaff electric generator in the Theatre of Electricity of the Museum of Science throws off some serious sparks -- about 1.5 million volts' worth, we're told. Little did we know that it also can be manipulated to make music. In ''Zap!," composer Christine Southworth and robotics engineer Leila Hasan, alumnae of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, use the Van de Graaff to add sparks and static to an hourlong concert with eight other musicians. Southworth composed the music; Hasan controls the generator with a laser-theremin midi controller. Laurie Anderson would be so proud. At 6:30 p.m. Tickets $14; includes museum admission. Science Park, Boston, 617-723-2500.