Astronaut plays John Williams’ ‘Star Wars’ theme in first-ever violin solo in outer space

16 September 2024, 12:20

One small step for a violinist, and one giant leap for music...

When Sarah Gillis performed ‘Rey’s Theme’, a piece John Williams composed for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, her concert hall was a space capsule orbiting hundreds of miles above Earth. And it’s a performance that has made history, as the first violin solo in outer space.

Gillis, a violinist and SpaceX astronaut, was aboard the privately crewed Polaris Dawn mission when she took out her instrument for a performance transmitted to Earth through the Starlink satellite.

While her only live audience were her crew members aboard the Crew Dragon spacecraft, her solo violin part was synchronised with musicians back down on Earth.

You can hear her solo movingly synced with a symphony orchestra in Los Angeles, and child musicians around the world including in Haiti, Sweden and Venezuela.

“As we travel around our beautiful planet Earth on this five-day mission, we wanted to share this special musical moment with you,” Gillis says when introducing the video, released on 13 September (watch below).

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HARMONY OF RESILIENCE (Violin cover) by Sarah Gillis | Rey's Theme by John Williams | Polaris Dawn

Gillis’ capsule concert, dubbed ‘Harmony of Resilience’, was a collaboration between St Jude Children’s Research Hospital and El Sistema USA to help inspire young minds and raise money for both institutions.

“Music has been a defining force in my life, thanks to the unwavering support of both my parents,” Gillis told El Sistema.

“My mother, a music teacher, championed my classical training on the violin, which has helped shape me into the engineer and astronaut I am today. The discipline, work ethic, and creativity fostered through music set me on the path that led to this extraordinary adventure into space.

“I’ve chosen to support El Sistema USA because they believe every child deserves access to the transformative power of music education, regardless of circumstance.”

Williams’ theme of hope, aspiration and optimism is a perfect fit for Rey’s character, who also happens to be a skilled engineer. Gillis said Rey’s Theme perfectly “symbolises unity and hope, highlighting the resilience and potential of children everywhere.”

Read more: John Williams’ 10 greatest movie soundtracks

Earlier in the week, Gillis had performed a historic 106-minute spacewalk outside the Dragon spacecraft with Polaris Dawn mission commander Jared Isaacman. The duo tested out SpaceX’s new EVA suits, which the company says will help enable future missions both in orbit around Earth and further out into space, potentially on the moon or Mars.

Gillis, Isaacman and the team also set a new record for human spaceflight, reaching 875 miles above Earth – higher than any crewed mission in orbit since Gemini 11 in 1966.

More than a gimic, this was an astonishing feat of musicality, and a moment that brought together so many great young musicians and music lovers around the world.

And so it came to be, that John Williams’ ethereal music became the first violin solo to be performed in outer space. A moment for the history books…