On <b>Saturday, June 1, </b> there will be a free, outdoor music performance based on the discovery of pulsars takes place at <b> <a href="http://www.yellowbarn.org/locations/ranch-2810-marfa-tx" target="_blank" link-data="{"link":{"attributes":[],"linkText":"Ranch 2810","target":"NEW","url":"http://www.yellowbarn.org/locations/ranch-2810-marfa-tx","_id":"00000184-80f0-d6f8-a1cf-b6f4a2260000","_type":"ff658216-e70f-39d0-b660-bdfe57a5599a"},"_id":"00000184-80f0-d6f8-a1cf-b6f4a2260001","_type":"809caec9-30e2-3666-8b71-b32ddbffc288"}">Ranch 2810</a>. </b>A pulsar is a highly magnetized, rotating neutron star that emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation.
Presented by <b> Yellow Barn </b>music group and a group of Marfa sponsors, the performance of Gérard Grisey's <i><b>Le noir de l'étoile </b></i>features six percussionists positioned surrounding the audience to create an immersive, spatial, musical experience. You can hear the <a href="http://marfapublicradio.org/blog/talk-at-ten/percussion-performance-under-the-stars-this-saturday/" target="_blank" link-data="{"link":{"attributes":[],"linkText":"KRTS interview here","target":"NEW","url":"http://marfapublicradio.org/blog/talk-at-ten/percussion-performance-under-the-stars-this-saturday/","_id":"00000184-80f0-d6f8-a1cf-b6f4a2260002","_type":"ff658216-e70f-39d0-b660-bdfe57a5599a"},"_id":"00000184-80f0-d6f8-a1cf-b6f4a2260003","_type":"809caec9-30e2-3666-8b71-b32ddbffc288"}">KRTS interview here</a>.
The performance starts at <b> 9:45 pm</b>. Guests are asked to arrive at the ranch gate, and park along the road, between 9 pm and 9:30 pm. Bring a flashlight in your car, as it will be dark. A bus will take audience members from the road to the performance site, and will return them to their vehicles. Visit <a href="http://www.yellowbarn.org/events/grisey’s-le-noir-de-l’etoile-marfa-tx" target="_blank" link-data="{"link":{"attributes":[],"linkText":"Yellow Barn","target":"NEW","url":"http://www.yellowbarn.org/events/grisey’s-le-noir-de-l’etoile-marfa-tx","_id":"00000184-80f0-d6f8-a1cf-b6f4a2270000","_type":"ff658216-e70f-39d0-b660-bdfe57a5599a"},"_id":"00000184-80f0-d6f8-a1cf-b6f4a2270001","_type":"809caec9-30e2-3666-8b71-b32ddbffc288"}">Yellow Barn</a> for more information.
In 1967, a young astronomer detected in the heavens a rapidly varying radio signal, in the form of periodic impulses 1.3 seconds apart. The discovery caused a sensation. The impulses were so regular that for a while they were taken to be signals coming from extraterrestrial civilizations. Then astrophysicists revealed a truth that was just as surprising: the signals were being emitted by a pulsar, the fantastic compact residue created by the supernova explosions that long ago disintegrated the massive stars.
—Jean-Pierre Luminet, Astrophysicist at the Paris-Meudon Observatory