Earth Music Theater Live Experience Lands at Bombyx

An immersive evening of live music, space imagery, and visual storytelling with special guest astrophysicist Salman Hameed, host of the weekly “Mr. Universe” segment on NEPM’s The Fabulous 413, opening the evening.

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. — Earth Music Theater Live (EMTL) comes to Bombyx Center for Arts & Equity on Saturday, October 3 at 7:00 p.m., doors open at 6:00 p.m. EMTL brings a powerful, immersive experience that fuses live music with stunning imagery of Earth captured by astronauts aboard the International Space Station. 

Created by Northampton-based composer and guitarist Steve Thomas in collaboration with Earth filmmaker Dan Barstow and the Association of Space Explorers, EMTL is a genre-defying performance that combines cinematic soundscapes, spoken word, and astronaut perspectives to explore our planet from space—inviting audiences to reflect on the beauty, fragility, and interconnectedness of life on Earth. 

The performance features a standout ensemble of Valley musicians including Chris Cheek (alto saxophone), Claire Arenius (drums and percussion), Josh Metz (acoustic bass), and Easthampton-based multi-instrumentalist Carl Clements (bansuri, flute, soprano saxophone). Together, they create dynamic, genre-spanning music that evolves in real-time alongside breathtaking visual sequences from orbit.

The evening opens with a special introduction by astrophysicist Dr. Salman Hameed, host of the weekly “Mr. Universe” science segment on New England Public Media’s The Fabulous 413. Hameed’s remarks provide an engaging scientific perspective that complements EMTL’s artistic exploration of Earth from space. A scratch-built scale model of the International Space Station (ISS) will also be on display, giving audiences an up-close look at the remarkable orbiting laboratory from which the stunning images featured in the performance were captured.

With support from community partners and sponsors, EMTL is committed to offering accessible, zero to low cost admission, ensuring that families, students, and community members throughout the region can experience this unique fusion of music, science, and visual storytelling.

About

The BOMBYX performance in Florence marks Earth Music Theater Live’s eighth presentation across Massachusetts, following shows at A.P.E.@HAWLEY, Smith College and Forbes Library in Northampton, the Shea Theater Arts Center in Turners Falls, Rockport Music’s Shalin Liu Performance Center in Rockport, and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston as part of Massachusetts Space Week 2026. Together, these performances reflect EMTL’s growing statewide reach, bringing its immersive fusion of live music, astronaut imagery, science, and visual storytelling to audiences of all ages.

The scratch-built scale model of the International Space Station (ISS) on display was crafted by Jack Frisch of Uprightgraphics.com providing audiences with an up-close look at this remarkable orbiting laboratory.

The Earth Music Theater Live show concept is a collaboration of Northampton-based multi-faceted musician, Steve Thomas, and Earth movie-maker Dan Barstow, with support from the Association of Space Explorers for the stunning astronaut photography. 

With EMTL, Steve Thomas’ musicality as composer, guitarist and sound designer, whose career bridges music, film, and planetary storytelling, is on display. His partnership with Dan Barstow, Director of EarthMusicTheater.org has resulted in more than a dozen Earth-themed films, featuring Thomas’ music with imagery captured by astronauts onboard the International Space Station (ISS). Their collaborations began in 2007 with Windows on Earth, a soundtrack commissioned for use on the ISS.  In 2024 Windows on Earth was remastered for the premiere of Earth Serenade, a series produced in collaboration with University California Television (UCTV) and the Association of Space Explorers. Windows on Earth is among the six Earth movies that feature Steve’s atmospheric Guitarscapes music on the UCTV series. In 2025 their works expanded into the Earth Music Theater Live series.  

Steve has contributed to a wide range of film, educational, and multimedia productions. His credits include collaborations with Northampton producer Wade Wofford and Happy Wasteland Studios on the feature film Urban Ed and the sci-fi thriller PureBred.  Steve has also enjoyed a longstanding creative partnership with New York Times Critics' Pick composer and producer Ruth Mendelson, contributing to groundbreaking multimedia museum exhibits, documentary films, and humanitarian projects. Their collaborations include works with the Jane Goodall Institute on a range of projects including the National Geographic documentary The Hope, Dr. Jane Goodall's Hopecast, and the immersive unabridged audiobook My Life with the Chimpanzees, narrated by Dr. Goodall. That work continues with Just Me, Jane, a documentary directed by Richard Ladkani, currently in production. Steve has also mixed Mendelson scores for Northern Light Productions' documentaries Our Promise: 100 Years of the American Battle Monuments Commission and Andrew Kukura's Leaving Angola. Most recently, he completed the score mix for Brainstorm, the feature film inspired by the memoir of Sara Schley.

Salman Hameed has a PhD. in astronomy, and is the founder and CEO of the non-profit Kainaat Studios that creates topical astronomy videos for audiences in Pakistan (and broader Global South). He is associate faculty at the Five College Astronomy Department (FCAD).  His interdisciplinary research focuses on how science interacts with society. He is currently teaching a class at UMass Amherst on “Life, Death, and Ownership on the Moon”. He has a weekly astronomy segment for New England Public Media (NEPM) and is a monthly guest on The Bill Newman Show on WHMP. His writings have appeared in Dawn Magazine, Express Tribune, Science Magazine, and the Guardian. 

Media Contact: Marc Nichols, earthmusictheaterlive@gmail.com