Samanea New York, the retail, entertainment and dining destination located at 1500 Old Country Road in Westbury, New York, has debuted “Distanced Together,” an immersive musical experience featuring a virtual ensemble of 60 ‘musicians’ that takes audiences on a guided mediative experience. Guests of this six-month engagement, originally developed to help people process the emotional trauma of the COVID-19 pandemic, will make their way around and through 60 individual speakers arranged in a large circle, experiencing the music just as we experienced the pandemic: individually, with our own unique perspective.
“Distanced Together” occupies approximately 6,000 square feet on the property’s second floor. Matthew Kucker, Jordan Baruch, and Herbert Agin at Colliers International represented the landlord in the deal.
“Samanea New York is proud to bring this extremely unique experience to Long Island,” said Dominic Coluccio, director of Real Estate at Samanea New York. “We have all likely felt the healing powers of music at some point in our lives and hope this exhibit can provide a reflective comforting space to our guests. This limited engagement will join our already robust entertainment tenant roster including X-Golf, Gravity Vault, Empire Adventure Park and Ryco’s Escape Room.”
Composer Murray Hidary penned the orchestration during the COVID-19 lockdown. The show had its world premiere in January 2023 at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (Mass MoCA) with a live performance of 60 string musicians. More than 3,000 audience members attended the live performances to experience Hidary’s revolutionary composition from their own unique perspectives.
For the traveling exhibit, the orchestra is projected onto a screen and the music heard through 60 speakers placed throughout the room that take the place of each musician, each playing its own specific part of Hidary’s composition. Guests walk through the exhibit experiencing the music individually in a communal space for reflection and healing.
Tickets for “Distanced Together” are $25 for adults and $15 for kids 12 and under (3 and under admitted free). Admission to the experience also includes MindTravel music and guided meditations before and after the experience. The experience has art prints for sale, based on the music performed available for purchase.
