Night of outer space delight is on the way to Wickepin

The Wickepin Town Hall will host a special evening of space exploration and Baroque in April when Space Music comes to the Wheatbelt. Australian Baroque will bring a 16-piece orchestra to Wickepin to accompany Dr Antony Brian as he guides audiences on a tour of the Solar System at the event. “We’re now being able to see space as a tangible place to visit,” Dr Brian said. “I think it’s getting even closer to us. Space is becoming more known; you can see the surface of Mars as though it was the surface of your backyard in unbelievable detail and it stirs up a lot of new passion in people.” Dr Brian is a Venusian volcanologist well acquainted with space — he mapped the Laufey Regio of Venus, an area of the planet that features two large volcanoes, for NASA. Space Music was first performed in the 2021 Perth Fringe festival. It was created by Dr Brian and his wife Helen Kruger, the artistic director of Australian Baroque, who said that music from the Baroque period and space were a perfect match. “Back then, science and music weren’t so separate and what’s really interesting about music from the Baroque period is that it was designed to change your internal state. It’s a fantastic medium to evoke an expansive feeling and symbolise different planets,” he said. The Wickepin Town Hall will host two showings of the hour-long event on Saturday, April 29, with a matinee at 4pm and an evening performance at 7pm. In between shows, a sausage sizzle will be held and attendees will be able to explore a space-themed art installation created by the community. Busses from Wagin and Narrogin will be available. Tickets for the event are available on the Arts Narrogin website.