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Max Richter shares "To the Stars" from 'Ad Astra' score, touring in October

Ad Astra, director James Gray‘s new sci-fi film about an astronaut (Brad Pitt) who heads to Neptune in search of his missing father (Tommy Lee Jones), was released over the weekend (#2 at the box office behind Downton Abbey). It’s a contemplative film, more about loneliness than Moon Pirates or killer space monkeys, and the mood is really heightened by Max Richter‘s wonderful score. Richter was inspired by the NASA Voyager probes that launched in the ’70s for deep space, and he incorporated sounds from those into his score. “This ‘location recording’ approach allowed me to use actual material recorded at the sites depicted in the story: when Brad is travelling past Saturn or Jupiter for example, we can actually hear music made from the data the Voyager probes transmitted from that site,” says Richter. “The music thus illuminates the story in two ways at once: it illustrates what’s happening in the story a traditional film score way, but it also documents the journey in an entirely new way, by incorporating actual material gathered on the trip.” No word on when Richter’s full score will be out but you can listen to “To the Stars”, and watch the Ad Astra trailer, below.

Max will be on tour in October with the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME) and soprano Grace Davidson, performing new material as well as a 90-minute version of Sleep. Stops include Los Angeles, Palo Alto, San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, Chicago, and NYC’s Playstation Theatre on 10/20 (tickets). All dates are listed below.

Max Richter – 2019 Tour Dates
12 Oct. Royce Hall – Los Angeles, CA
13 Oct. Bing Concert Hall – Palo Alto, CA
14 Oct. Herbst Theater – San Francisco, CA
16 Oct. Moore Theatre – Seattle, WA
18 Oct. Moody Theater – Austin, TX
19 Oct. Harris Theater – Chicago, IL
20 Oct. Playstation Theater – NYC, NY