A space musician
Ilan Eshkeri has joined forces with Tim Peake.
Growing up, Ilan Eshkeri loved space. “Star Wars had not long come out and I built space Lego. So all things space were very exciting to me,” he says, speaking to The Week Junior. Although he now writes music rather than going to space, Eshkeri has been working with Tim Peake and the European Space Agency (ESA) on a project called Space Station Earth.
On 15 May, Eshkeri will lead an orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in London, playing music to go with images filmed by astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS). “It’s a childhood dream come true,” Eshkeri says. The idea started when Peake asked Eshkeri if he could use some of his music for a video Peake was making in space.
Eshkeri has synesthesia, which is when you experience one sense through another, like seeing a colour when you hear a particular word. In Eshkeri’s case, he can “hear” colours as music. This inspired him when composing for Space Station Earth. “For me, brass instruments are red and stringed instruments are blue,” he explains. “It’s not a choice, it’s just, it’s perfectly obvious.”
Eshkeri has written music for films, TV series and video games. However, what ties all his work together is storytelling.
“The Space Station Earth project is an emotional journey, and the music is telling an emotional narrative.
It’s the same when you’re writing a film, or video games, or a ballet, you’re telling an emotional story through the medium of music.”
When asked whether he’d be interested in going into space in the future, Eshkeri has no doubts.
“Oh yeah, of course!”