The University of Pittsburgh's Beyond: Microtonal Music Festival is kicking off this weekend! Composer and creator of the Long Instrument, Ellen Fullman, speaks with Jim Cunningham about her forty year exploration of a seventy two foot long set of strings. She plays this instrument by walking between the strings connected to resonator boxes. Ellen talks about bringing this huge instrument to Pittsburgh for the first time, in a performance with Grammy nominated Jack Quartet. Together, they will be performing Energy Archive, her own composition which immerses the audience in meditative sound through exploration of tuning theory and harmonics. She also highlights her work with the Kronos Quartet in recent years, and how she started this project. You can see Ellen's giant set of strings this weekend on Saturday, February 22nd at 2 pm at WQED in Studio A, the Fred Rogers Studio. Tickets are free for Pitt and CMU students. Regular admission is $20 at the door and $15 for students and seniors. A festival pass is $60. Festival events take place at Bellefield Hall on the University of Pittsburgh's campus, ending on Sunday, February 23rd at 4 pm. So much to see and do this weekend! You can find more information at https://www.music.pitt.edu/mote.