Leonardo Barilaro releases pioneering new EP

Leonardo Barilaro is an artist who uses the overlap between art and science as a launchpad. Known globally as The Space Pianist, the Maltese-based composer and Senior Lecturer in Aerospace Engineering at MCAST has built an entire creative universe where music and space exploration intertwine. His vision is thoroughly cosmic and his mission is to one day perform the first piano concert on Mars. Until then, he’s already begun playing among the stars, quite literally.

His journey sits at the crossroads of physics and poetry; while his career as an aerospace engineer tethers him to precision and data, his musical output defies gravity both metaphorically and, increasingly, physically. His compositions have been transmitted from orbit by astronauts aboard the International Space Station, linking human creativity with the infinite quiet of the cosmos. It’s a fusion that captures the essence of his philosophy, that the pursuit of knowledge and the creation of beauty are two sides of the same cosmic coin.

In 2022, he undertook a monumental feat by releasing a new piano composition every single day for an entire year, while his ongoing ASTROBEAT space mission, developed in collaboration with the International Space Station, continues this exploration, most notably with “Moon Seeds,” a stirring collaboration with Grammy-nominated cellist Tina Guo, which was streamed directly from orbit.

Now, Leonardo takes his interstellar ambitions further with his latest release titled Zero Gravity, Note One, the world’s first EP recorded live during a parabolic flight. The project captures him performing under microgravity conditions and shifting G-forces aboard a modified Cessna 182 aircraft, in partnership with G0 Flight, a company specialising in parabolic research led by Professor Alessandro Barazzetti. Using a ROLI Piano M, supported by a custom-built structure, the flight transformed into a flying laboratory where art, science and human endeavour converged.

Conducted at 5,000 feet, the mission was a study of how the human body and mind adapt to creativity in weightlessness. Cameras and sensors tracked Professor’s finger and wrist movements, his focus and the physical strain of playing without gravity’s familiar pull. “We compose music and create art through sensations tied to gravity: falling, rising, grounding. This first test begins an exploration into whether weightlessness can inspire an entirely new musical language, a true Space music,” he explains.

The EP’s three tracks each distil a different dimension of that experience; “Star Wars – zero-g piano” is an exuberant tribute to the film saga that ignited countless imaginations about life beyond Earth, performed as gravity fluctuated between hypergravity and free fall. “SCRAT – zero-g piano” revisits Professor’s first real space mission, a 2010 stratospheric experiment that set his cosmic career in motion. Finally, “Note One” is pure improvisation, a flowing stream of consciousness born in weightlessness, a sonic snapshot of his emotional and physical responses mid-flight.

Zero Gravity, Note One is no mere musical novelty, it’s an extraordinary statement of both groundbreaking intent and artistic expression. It’s the latest leap forward in his ambitious voyage and another rehearsal for the ultimate performance, one that will someday echo across the red sands of Mars as Leonardo Barilaro reaches beyond the world we know to find harmony in the stars.

Listen to Zero Gravity, Note One below