News

SubSpace Session Virutal Synesthesia Premieres Tonight – and a Special Request <3

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Here is a message from Mary!:


‘[UPDATE on 6/21/20: Although the premiere has passed, the show will be online permanently — you can watch it any time via the link below! <3 Thank you SO much to the Museum of Science Boston, #MOSathome, and the Lowell Institute for making this incredible virtual concert series possible, and for inviting me to collaborate with them! <3]


Greetings everyone! I wanted to post a message to let you know that my SubSpace Session virtual concert, in collaboration with the amazing Museum of Science Boston, airs this evening, Thursday June 18th at 7:30pm EST! This virtual concert is completely free, and will feature five of my compositions (performed previously by myself as well as my fantastic friends from Planetary Quartet and East Coast Scoring Orchestra) paired with stunning music videos created by the Museum’s award-winning planetarium team. As with our previous live collaborations, the imagery in each video will be directly inspired by my synesthesia, allowing you to “see” the synesthetic colors I experience when performing my music. Here is the link where you can watch the show, which will go live at 7:30PM EST!:







And here is the direct link to the YouTube page!:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3y4rZJIoVM



I also wanted to write you with a special request: If you are planning on attending this virtual concert (or even if you can’t make it), it would mean so much to me if you would pledge to join me in taking at least one concrete action in support of Black Lives Matter and antiracism this week. If you want to help but are unsure of how, here is a WONDERFUL list of resources by the awesome Patricia Elzie that I am very grateful for which includes links for petitions, donations, antiracism reading lists and much much more — thank you Patricia for this fantastic list!:



https://theinfophile.substack.com/p/volume-1-resources-9-anti-racist



Thank you to one and all, and sendings lots of love!



Sincerely,
Mary <3

New Virtual Concert: SubSpace Session with The Museum of Science, Boston on June 18th

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(Photo by: Jonathan Beckley)



Greetings all and hope that you are safe and well!



Mary is honored to announce that she will be collaborating once more with the amazing Museum of Science, Boston for an incredible virtual music experience on Thursday June 18th, as part the SubSpace Sessions and #MOSathome.



The event will feature five of Mary’s compositions (performed previously by Mary and her wonderful friends from Planetary Quartet and East Coast Scoring Orchestra) paired with stunning music videos created by the Museum’s award-winning planetarium team. Much like previous live collaborations with the Museum, the imagery in each video will be directly inspired by Mary’s synesthesia, allowing the viewer to “see” the synesthetic colors Mary experiences when performing her music.



Best of all, this concert will be free and viewable anywhere in the world via the Museum’s website!



More details will follow soon, but in the meantime feel free to visit the following link for more info and to register for the event: 


https://www.eventbrite.com/e/subspace-sessions-mary-bichner-tickets-106157790810



THANK YOU so much to the amazing Museum of Science team for inviting Mary to take part in this exciting collaboration, to the awesome Planetary Quartet and East Coast Scoring Orchestra, and to all who will join us virtually on June 18th — can’t wait to connect with you all soon! <3

Update: May 26th UT FORTIS concert canceled; will be rescheduled for Spring 2021 due to COVID-19

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Greetings everyone and hoping this message finds you safe and well. 💕



Due to the current COVID-19 world crisis, and to protect the health and safety of all of the concert’s audience members and staff, the “Ut Fortis” concert originally scheduled for May 26th has been canceled and will be rescheduled for the spring of 2021. For more information and updates, please visit the official site here:



https://utfortis.christinagoh.com/le-spectacle-international-ut-fortis-en-partenariat-avec-linstitut-de-touraine-reporte-au-printemps-2021



Mary is extremely grateful to composer, vocalist, musician, performer, and Ut Fortis founder Christina Goh for inviting her to take part in this incredible and meaningful concert series, and she looks forward to performing in the rescheduled spring 2021 show.



Wishing everyone good health and safety, and hope to see you all again soon!


Featured in new synesthesia article on TIDAL

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Greetings all and wishing everyone good health and safety. 💕💕💕



Mary is honored to be featured in a new article on the TIDAL blog today entitled “Chords Become Colors: Inside Synesthesia”, alongside fellow musical synesthetes such as the amazing CHIKA, Andy Partridge, and Eric Slick. You can read the full article here:



http://read.tidal.com/article/inside-synesthesia



Thank you so much to author Morgan Enos and TIDAL for including Mary in this wonderful piece!



Hugs to one and all, and hope to see you all again soon! 💕💕💕

New Concert: Performing as part of Christina Goh’s “UT FORTIS” on 05/26/20 in Tours, France

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Mary is honored to be performing as part of UT FORTIS; a beautiful and meaningful evening of music and art created by composer, vocalist and instrumentalist Christina Goh.



The event will take place in Tours, France; and will feature performances and appearances by Christina Goh, Catherine Capozzi, Les Passeurs de Legendes, Maxime Perrin, Gotham A., Jacques Moury Beauchamp, and more.



Tickets are free, and can be obtained via the following link:



https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ut-fortis-tickets-98307304795



Additional details coming soon — please stay tuned! We hope you will join us for UT FORTIS!

“Synesthesia Suite” Concert Series at the Museum of Science — Thank You!

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Greetings, everyone! Here is a message from Mary about last month’s shows at the Museum of Science, Boston!:


View this post on Instagram

When your show is so fun that you forget to take a selfie! 💕 Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to everyone who joined us for this year's Synesthesia Suite, and to all of the amazing people that made it possible! It was an honor and a joy to perform for you as always! Huge and heartful thanks to everyone at the @museumofscience (including James, Jason, Jake, Caity, Mark, Dani, Darryl, and more!) for every aspect of this awesome collaboration, including the GORGEOUS new fulldome visuals (i LOVED them they were amazing! 😍🌈✨🎶); to the phenomenal Planetary Quartet (Sonia Deng / @shonegerr -violin, Anna Stromer / @annastromerr – viola I, Carrol Lee / @carrol.vla – viola II, and Timothy Paek / @homesliceablecellist – cello) for dazzling us all with their musical magic; to my fantastic assistant for the show @porcelaindalya and incredible hair/makeup artist extraordinaire @mayalandi for their extreme awesomeness, and to all who joined us in the audience for both shows! ❤️🎶✨🌈✨🎶 I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to experience this magical evening with all of you, and am VERY excited for the future of this series (more info on this soon! :)). Thank you so much again to one and all and YOU ROCK!! 💞✨🎶🌈♥️🎶✨🎸🎻🎻🎻🎻🎹🎤🌌♥️🌈💞❤️🌈♥️ (photo @anachronistique 📸💕) #MaryAtMOS #museumofscience #boston #synesthesia #visualmusic #planetarium #planetaryquartet #marybichnerandplanetaryquartet #violin #violinist #viola #violist #cello #cellist #somuchawesome #THANKYOU!💕💕💕

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February 27th Planetarium Show: 7:30pm Show Sold Out, 9:00pm Show Added

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(Photo by: Jonathan Beckley)



Tickets for the 7:30pm of Mary Bichner and Planetary Quartet’s synesthesia-inspired concert at the Charles Hayden Planetarium on Thursday, February 27th have sold out, so the Museum of Science Boston has added a second show at 9:00pm for the same date! Tickets for this new 9:00PM show can be purchased via the following link (the Museum anticipates this 9:00pm show selling out as well so we highly recommend obtaining tickets in advance!):



http://www.mos.org/public-events/synesthesia-suite



Don’t miss this one-night-only immersive musical experience, featuring live performances of Bichner’s compositions paired with stunning visuals created by the Museum’s award-winning team that are directly inspired by Mary’s polymodal synesthesia, which will allow audience members to “hear” color and “see” sound just as Mary does when she listens to music.


Here is complete info on the show!:


02/27/20 “SYNESTHESIA SUITE” WITH MARY BICHNER AND PLANETARY QUARTET AT THE MUSEUM OF SCIENCE
When: Thursday, February 27th 2020 @ 7:30pm & 9:00PM
Where: Charles Hayden Planetarium at the Museum of Science, Boston (1 Science Park, Boston MA 02144)
Tickets: $20 General Admission
Ticket Link: https://mos.org/public-events/synesthesia-suite
FB Invite: https://www.facebook.com/events/440307490192225
Performers: Mary Bichner (Composer / Vocals / Piano / Guitar), Sonia Deng (Violin), Anna Stromer (Viola I), Carrol Lee (Viola II), Timothy Paek (Cello)



Thank you one and all, and can’t wait to see you under the dome once more! <3

“Synesthesia Suite” Concert Series Returns to the Museum of Science on 02/27/20

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As 2019 comes to a close and a new decade draws near, there is some exciting news to share: Mary Bichner and Planetary Quartet are THRILLED to be returning to the Charles Hayden Planetarium, in partnership with Boston’s Museum of Science, for the third installment of sold-out concert series of “Synesthesia Suite” on February 27th, 2020!


Don’t miss this one-night-only immersive musical experience, featuring live performances of Bichner’s compositions paired with stunning visuals created by the Museum’s award-winning team that are directly inspired by Mary’s polymodal synesthesia, which will allow audience members to “hear” color and “see” sound just as Mary does when she listens to music.


Here is complete info on the show!:


02/27/20 “SYNESTHESIA SUITE” WITH MARY BICHNER AND PLANETARY QUARTET AT THE MUSEUM OF SCIENCE
When: Thursday, February 27th 2020 @ 7:30pm
Where: Charles Hayden Planetarium at the Museum of Science, Boston (1 Science Park, Boston MA 02144)
Tickets: $20 General Admission
Ticket Link: https://mos.org/public-events/synesthesia-suite
FB Invite: (coming soon)
Performers: Mary Bichner (Composer / Vocals / Piano / Guitar), Sonia Deng (Violin), Anna Stromer (Viola I), Carrol Lee (Viola II), Timothy Paek (Cello)


(PLEASE NOTE: As all previous versions of this event have sold out weeks in advance, we HIGHLY recommend purchasing tickets in advance! Here is the ticket link!: https://mos.org/public-events/synesthesia-suite
Cheers to one and all, and looking forward to seeing you there! <3

Guest panelist for Patrick Gabridge’s “America Plays” on Sunday, Sept 22

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(Photo credit: Mount Auburn Cemetery)



Congratulations to Mount Auburn Cemetery’s wonderful artist-in-residence, the fantastic playwright Patrick Gabridge, for the launch of his new “America Plays” which premiere today! The plays will run now through September 22nd, taking place directly in Mount Auburn’s beautiful landscape and featuring post-performance discussions with Mr. Gabridge and special guests. Mary is honored to have been invited to speak as a guest panelist during the post-performance discussion after the 5:00PM showing on Sunday, September 22nd!



For more information, including scheduling and ticket links, please visit the official Mount Auburn website right here:



http://www.mountauburn.org



Congratulations to Mr. Gabridge on this exciting new plays, and many thanks to him for inviting Mary to take part! And huge and heartfelt thanks to the incredible Mount Auburn Cemetery for their amazing artist-in-residence program and their continued support of the arts in New England and beyond!

Videos from “Synesthesia Suite” Concert Series on 04/04/19

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Exciting news: videos from the April 4th “Synesthesia Suite” concert series have just been released online! Here are videos for both “Lost” and “Finale” — performed gorgeously by the wonderful Planetary Quartet — which feature two unique technologies displaying Mary’s synesthetic impressions of each song: incredible planetarium visuals created by the amazing Museum of Science Boston and multimedia artist/scientist Thomas Sanchez Lengeling; as well as sound-responsive, LED-infused garments created by the fantastic Neoperceptions Initiative at MIT, presented in partnership with both of these amazing organizations as well as the awesome Arizona State University!:





[ Music and lyrics by: Mary Bichner | Performed by: Mary Bichner (vocals/piano), Sonia Deng (violin), Anna Stromer (viola I), Dominick Douglas (viola II), and Timothy Paek (cello) | Planetarium visuals by: The Museum of Science, Boston | Garment design by: Siranush Babakhanova | Garment audio system by: Brodi Elwood | Garment lighting by: Thomas Sanchez Lengeling and Terry Kang | Software and hardware management by: Thomas Sanchez Lengeling and Brent Smith | Planetarium illumination by: Justin Pye and Brent Smith | MIT/ASU Scientific advisors: Frank Wilczek and Nathan Newman | Audio recorded and mixed by: Joel Simches | Video recorded by: Jonathan Beckley | Video edited by: Brandon Johnson / Allthingsharmony | Special thanks to: The Council for the Arts at MIT / CAMIT ]





[ Music and lyrics by: Mary Bichner | Performed by: Mary Bichner (vocals/piano), Sonia Deng (violin), Anna Stromer (viola I), Dominick Douglas (viola II), and Timothy Paek (cello) | Planetarium visuals by: Thomas Sanchez Lengeling | Garment design by: Siranush Babakhanova | Garment audio system by: Brodi Elwood | Garment lighting by: Thomas Sanchez Lengeling and Terry Kang | Software and hardware management by: Thomas Sanchez Lengeling and Brent Smith | Planetarium illumination by: Justin Pye and Brent Smith | MIT/ASU Scientific advisors: Frank Wilczek and Nathan Newman | Audio recorded and mixed by: Joel Simches | Video recorded by: Jonathan Beckley | Video edited by: Brandon Johnson / Allthingsharmony | Special thanks to: The Council for the Arts at MIT / CAMIT ]




Thank you to everyone who made this magical event possible and to all who joined us, and can’t wait for the next version of the “Synesthesia Suite” concert series in Autumn 2019 — more info to follow soon! <3