Do you play a musical instrument? Could you imagine playing one made of ice?
Tim Linhart is an American ice sculptor who has created a small orchestra of ice instruments. The performances have made people fun for more than 20 years.
The name of Linhart's orchestra is Ice Music. The instruments are very fragile. Even the warmth of a musician's breath can cause the sound to change. So the instruments need to be returned between each piece of music. Backup instruments are kept on hand in case one breaks, but some can be "repaired" with just a bit of water.
Most performances by Ice Music take place in a specially created concert hall in Lulea, in northern Sweden. The hall seats up to 200 people, and the temperature inside is about 23 degrees Fahrenheit. Listeners are encouraged to wear thick clothes, a hat, and gloves. Body heat and breathing can melt the instruments, so Linhart designed the hall as two ice houses connected with a stage in the middle. A hole above each side of the listeners allows heat to escape.
Because the concert hall can't last through the warm season, it must be rebuilt every winter. Ice Music concerts have taken place in other places like Canada, Finland. Linhart has recently built an 80-foot-high hall in the Italian Alps. When winter ends, Linhart tries to freeze some of the instruments in his "freeze house" for the next year's performances. Others that are too worn are allowed to melt in the sun.
