Samanea in Westbury adds new immersive experience, 'Distanced Together'

In the early summer of 2020, pianist/composer Murray Hidary found himself off the road during the height of the pandemic. He was living in Los Angeles and would often take an early evening walk in a local park. On one such walk, he was struck by inspiration.

“At 7 p.m. every day people would come outside to bang pots in support of the essential workers,” says Hidary, 52, of Brooklyn. “What I realized is that people couldn’t physically come together so they used sound to come together.”

This observation inspired  Hidary to compose “Distanced Together,” an immersive contemporary Classical music experience featuring a virtual ensemble of 60 musicians, which kicked off a six-month residency at Samanea New York in Westbury in March.

“It was originally conceived during the pandemic to express the arc of the human experience during that time,” says Hidary. “It provides a healing space for everything we all went through.”

SAMANEA MUSIC EXPERIENCE

Upon arriving at the 6,000-square-foot space, visitors will enter an open floor plan that has various seating options including benches in the center of the room as well as meditation cushions all around. The back wall features a 15-foot high by 30-foot wide screen that shows a live performance of “Distanced Together” by a 60-piece string orchestra (12 violas, 12 cellos, 12 basses and 24 violins) from the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), which debuted last winter. Around the circumference of the room are 60 speakers playing a studio recording of “Distanced Together,” however each speaker projects only one individual musician at a time and they are all synced together making up this 47-minute continuous piece of music.

“If you put your ear to just one speaker, you could hear that one specific instrument playing,” says Hidary. “You feel like you are in a virtual concert as the musicians are life-size on the wall. It’s like you are there.”

A short three-minute documentary about the series of MASS MoCA performances is shown at the beginning to introduce the event giving it context.

“I want people to get lost in the emotion of it,” says Hidary. “You can really feel the chapters of the pandemic through the various stages from the fear to the hopefulness. There’s quite a lot of turbulence and intensity plus glorious expansion, possibility and hope residing in the music.”

At the MASS MoCA performances, the orchestra was set up in a circular orientation with the audience sitting and walking around in the center.

“People got to walk up to a violinist two-feet away and then go over to the cellist or bassist,” says Hidary. “At first, the musicians had to get used to it. It was very strange for them. But in the end, they all loved it because they never got to be so close with the audience and have that kind of interaction. This created a real intimacy with the music.”

Dominic Coluccio, who serves as the director of real estate for Lesso Mall Development, brought Hidary to Samanea New York feeling his new project would be a good fit for the entertainment-based location.

“Murray’s immersive design allows every guest to have a very personal sensory response to the musical composition, giving them both space and time to reflect and meditate,” says Coluccio. 

HIDARY'S MUSICAL BACKGROUND

Hidary grew up listening to composers like pianist Keith Jarrett, sitarist Ravi Shankar as well as pianist Philip Glass, who he studied with during his junior year at New York University. He has made a career performing another immersive show, known as MindTravel,  consisting of improvisational piano in outdoor settings ranging from Central Park to Miami Beach.

“I’m all about bringing music mindfulness, nature and community together,” says Hidary. “I always want people to walk out with a real sense of healing.”

The music for “Distanced Together” stemmed from a series of improvisational pieces recorded at his live concerts and home recordings within the last five years.

“This is a soundtrack of the soul,” says Hidary. “It’s an instrumental journey that’s an immersion of sound using the vibration of music to feel completely embraced and have a cathartic experience.”

By David J. Criblez

david.criblez@newsday.comDavidJCriblez

David J. Criblez is a reporter for Newsday's exploreLI, covering entertainment-related events from local music to stand-up comedy to festivals.