Grossmont College’s orchestra and chorus perform `The Planets’ in the dark inside a church

The Grossmont College Symphony Orchestra and Master Chorale will perform in a darkened church in a unique multimedia concert titled “The Planets” on Wednesday evening, Sept. 26. Admission is free. The public is invited to attend.

“The Planets” will feature the college’s 75-member orchestra and 50-member chorus performing Joseph Haydn’s first movement of “The Creation, Representation of Chaos,” and Gustav Holst’s “The Planets.” At the same time, Philip Blanco, Grossmont College physics and astronomy professor, will present high-definition slides, graphics and animations from NASA and Eurospace on two large projection screens. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. at St. John of the Cross Catholic Church, 8086 Broadway in Lemon Grove. Admission is free; however, a freewill offering will be held.

Blanco said the images, more than 30 gigabytes in volume, are from previous and current space missions ranging from rare images culled from NASA archives to recent photos from the Curiosity rover on Mars and from the Juno spacecraft’s current five-year, 1.74 billion-mile trip to Jupiter, which is expected to conclude around July 4, 2016. Blanco also said his presentation will include a tribute to the late Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon and commander of NASA’s Apollo 11 lunar landing mission, who died in August at age 82.

Considered by many to be his masterpiece, Haydn’s first movement celebrates the creation of primal light, the earth, heavenly bodies, bodies of water, weather and plant life. Each of Holst’s seven-movement orchestral suite is intended to convey ideas and emotions associated with the influence of the planets. For more event information, call (619) 644-7254, or visit www.grossmontsymphony.org and click “GSO 2012-2013 Season.”