Music

In an otherworldly convergence of talents—singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner of The National, and composer Nico Muhly—give the music of the spheres a 21st-century spin in Planetarium, an evening of songs inspired by our solar system.

The firmament descends in part one with a set of atmospheric instrumental works, composed by the three artists and performed with precision by a guest quartet. In part two, the planetary paeans begin: Stevens’ wistful falsetto voice traces the gauzy rings of Saturn. Muhly’s analog keyboards, Dessner’s guitar, and seven trombones unleash the red rage of Mars. And in an elegiac electronic waltz, a chamber ensemble gives the crestfallen Pluto—ousted but not forgotten—its musical due.