The Chandelier

“A large-scale robotic musical instrument”

Welcome

This page outlines an exploration in robotic musical instruments called The Chandelier. This project was developed by Mike Fabio, Steve Pliam, Brian Demers, and Lucas Hernandez-Mena

About The Chandelier

The Chandelier is a large-scale robotic musical instrument designed for the opera Death and the Powers. Using various electronically controlled actuators, The Chandelier is capable of creating sounds unlike traditional instruments, and even some sounds that defy the size of the instrument itself. In this installation participants are given control over an instrument that is clearly, visibly, much larger than themselves, yet inextricably linked to their movements on a traditional piano keyboard, exploring and breaking the limitations of human performers as well as the instruments that we think of as commonplace.