This month, our Music in the Atrium series celebrates the Studio Glass gallery with live performances by glass armonica player Vera Meyer. Come experience this historic glass instrument in action!

Inspired by the sound of a wet finger running around the edge of a drinking glass, Benjamin Franklin invented the glass armonica in 1761. It became wildly popular for the rest of the 18th century, despite claims that its unearthly sounds could cause dizziness and summon spirits. Mozart, Beethoven and other composers wrote works for this unusual, haunting instrument. It was even used by Franz Anton Mesmer (whose name and questionable practices gave rise to the word “mesmerize”) to hypnotize his patients.

Music in the Atrium is PEM’s live concert series that features local and visiting performers from a variety of musical traditions and styles. Concerts take place on select Sundays. Explore upcoming shows at pem.org/events.

About our Collaborator

Vera Meyer discovered glass music in 1983, when she happened upon street musician Jim Turner playing his 70 musical wine glasses on the street in Harvard Square. She was so captivated by the sound that she immediately worked to acquire her own glass instrument. She started by building a similar set of tuned wine glasses, but soon commissioned one of the first armonicas made by Gerhard Finkenbeiner, a master glassblower who built instruments based on Benjamin Franklin’s design. Meyer has been playing the glass armonica ever since at occasions ranging from informal functions to all-ages music classes and formal concert engagements.