Geodesium is a music project first launched in the 1970s by composer and recording artist Mark C. Petersen. The name is a combination of the terms "

geodesic dome A geodesic dome is a hemispherical thin-shell structure (lattice-shell) based on a geodesic polyhedron. The rigid triangular elements of the dome distribute stress throughout the structure, making geodesic domes able to withstand very heavy ...

" and "

planetarium A planetarium (: planetariums or planetaria) is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation. A dominant feature of most planetariums is ...

" and refers to the

space music Space music, also called spacemusic or space ambient, is a subgenre of ambient music and is described as "tranquil, hypnotic and moving". It is derived from new-age music and is associated with lounge music, easy listening, and elevator music ...

Petersen creates specifically for use as scores for planetarium shows. Under the name Geodesium, Petersen has produced soundtracks for more than 60 planetarium shows performed in installations in more than 900 planetarium facilities in more than 50 countries around the world.''Geodesium: Music for Planetariums'' By Matt Howart
Interview with Mark C. Petersen on space.com
/ref> He has performed several live music shows in planetariums in the U.S. and the UK, but he considers his work to be a studio creation and not particularly well-suited to live performances, as his music features multiple

electronic musical instruments An electronic musical instrument or electrophone is a musical instrument that produces sound using electronics, electronic circuitry. Such an instrument sounds by outputting an electrical, electronic or digital audio signal that ultimately is ...

, difficult to operate in real time."Mark uses electronic keyboards, samplers and synthesizers to create his unique brand of planetarium space music. From verdant planetscapes to flights of fantasy through deep space, the music portrays magnificent visions of the universe.
official site for Geodesium's label, Loch Ness Productions
/ref> The music of Geodesium has been featured in planetarium shows narrated by well-known screen personalities including

Noah Adams Noah Adams is an American broadcast journalist and author, known primarily since 1987 from National Public Radio. Career A former co-host of the daily ''All Things Considered'' program, Adams is currently the contributing correspondent at ...

, Baxter Black,

Avery Brooks Avery Franklin Brooks (born October 2, 1948) is a retired American actor, director, singer, narrator and educator. He is best known for his television roles as Captain Benjamin Sisko on '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'', as Hawk on '' Spenser: Fo ...

, Roxanne Dawson,

Michael Dorn Michael Dorn (born December 9, 1952) is an American actor best known for his role as the Klingon character Worf in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, appearing in all seven seasons of the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (1987–1 ...

James Earl Jones James Earl Jones (January 17, 1931 – September 9, 2024) was an American actor. A pioneer for black actors in the entertainment industry, Jones is known for his extensive and acclaimed roles on stage and screen. Jones is one of the few perfor ...

Leonard Nimoy Leonard Simon Nimoy ( ; March 26, 1931 – February 27, 2015) was an American actor and director, famous for playing Spock in the ''Star Trek'' franchise for almost 50 years. This includes Development of Spock, originating Spock in Star Trek: T ...

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1966 debut as the captain of the starship USS Enterpri ...

and

Patrick Stewart Sir Patrick Stewart (born 13 July 1940) is an English actor. With a career spanning over seven decades of Patrick Stewart on stage and screen, stage and screen, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Patrick Stewart, variou ...

. Petersen's music has also appeared in TV commercials for major corporations including

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, Ford,

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, Coors, and the

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.''An interview with Mark C. Petersen'' by Bruce Atchison
Voyager magazine
and has been featured in a variety of NASA-produced programs, Digistar demonstration shows for Evans & Sutherland, and special-effects laserdiscs for Sky-Skan. Geodesium music has been featured on space music radio programs such as '' Musical Starstreams'', ''Music from The

Hearts of Space ''Hearts of Space'' is an American weekly syndicated public radio show featuring music of a contemplative nature"When you listen to space and ambient music you are connecting with a tradition of contemplative sound experience whose roots are an ...

'', and ''Opus 357''.''Music from the Hearts of Space'' Playlist server entries featuring Geodesium at

History

Petersen's interest in creating music for planetariums was sparked in 1975 when he observed the construction of the planetarium at the University of Colorado at Boulder, University of Colorado. After sharing some of his

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer ( ) is a modular synthesizer invented by the American engineer Robert Moog in 1964. Moog's company, R. A. Moog Co., produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014. It was the first commercial synthesizer ...

recordings with the planetarium's designer, Petersen was invited to create the music for the first show at the new facility, and was the composer-in-residence there from 1975 to 1978.

Discography

All released by Loch Ness Productions: * ''Geodesium'', (1977) * ''Double Eclipse'' (1981) * ''West of the Galaxy'' (1987) * ''Fourth Universe'' (1992) * ''Anasazi'' (1993) * ''Stellar Collections'', 2001 * ''A Gentle Rain of Starlight'' (2007) * ''Music From SpacePark360'' (2010) * ''Stella Novus'' (2011) * ''Arcturian Archives'' (2011) * ''Music From Infinity'' (2014) * ''Celestial Rhythms: NYC Live '85'' (2015) * ''Infinite Light'' (2019) * ''Startalk'' (2019) * ''Stellar Collections 2'' (2019)

Footnotes

External links

Information at Loch Ness Productions
* class=artist, id=p39012, pure_url=yes Geodesiumon

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

Geodesium
on

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

Geodesium
on Amazon.com Electronic music groups American new-age music groups Planetarium shows