New Laser Enya show debuts in CyberSphere at The Renaissance Center

Release Date: 2/28/2003. Expired: 4/26/2003

The haunting rhythms and unique style of Irish new age singer Enya fill the CyberSphere Digital Theatre at The Renaissance Center in a new laser show debuting in March.

Laser Enya features music from the three-time Grammy winner’s first three albums along with spectacular laser and digital effects in the four-story domed theatre Saturdays through the month of April.

Enya, born Eithne Ni Bhraonain in County Donegal, Ireland, is one of the world’s top-selling female artists with more than 60 million albums sold since 1988. Her album sales rank her alongside Cher, Madonna, Whitney Houston and Tina Turner and in many countries she is the top-selling artist of all time.

Enya has won the Best New Age Album at the Grammy Awards three times: for Shepherd Moons in 1992, The Memory of Trees in 1996 and A Day Without Rain in 2001. She has been nominated two other times in the same category and this year was nominated for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture for May It Be from Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.

Laser Enya shows Saturdays at 3 p.m. through March and April in the CyberSphere. Tickets are $6.

The show features 10 songs from Enya’s first three albums. Her 1988 debut Watermark sold 10 million copies and has been certified platinum in 14 countries. Shepherd Moons was even more successful with 11 million copies sold.

Her 1997 greatest hits collection, Paint the Sky With Stars, which included two new songs, is perennially among the top 100 catalogue albums in the United States. She is the best-selling solo artist ever in her home country of Ireland.

In addition to Lord of the Rings, movies that have included Enya’s music in their soundtracks include L.A. Story, Green Card, Far and Away and Age of Innocence.

While she performs all the vocals and plays all of the instruments on all her albums, Enya gives a lot of credit for her success to the collaboration with producer Nicky Ryan and his wife, lyricist Roma Ryan.

“Enya is truly a one-of-a-kind performer whose music will haunt you with its rhythms, melodies and her unmistakable voice,” said CyberSphere Director Ron Stinson. “This music is perfect to go with the laser and digital effects for an overall experience in the CyberSphere.”

Storms in Africa, from Watermark, has been a part of the CyberSphere’s popular Laser Magic show for three years now.

“Enya’s new age music is a radical departure from the pop and rock seen in most of today’s laser shows,” said Joe Wyatt, assistant director of the CyberSphere. “The lasers and the digital effects we have used to enhance the show give it almost a meditative feel, where most of our other shows attack the senses.”

With the month of March seeing the celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, the CyberSphere schedule also brings back Ireland’s top rock export with the Laser U2 show. With hits like Mysterious Ways, In the Name of Love and With or Without You, the Irish quartet’s album sales have exceeded $100 million around the globe. The group was nominated for eight Grammys in 2002 and lead singer Bono has just been nominated for the second year in a row for consideration for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Laser U2 shows at 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays in March and April.

The 8 p.m. laser show highlights the music of the ’80s in Laser Retro. Some of the decade’s top acts are included, such as Tears for Fears, The Police, Duran Duran, Eurythmics and INXS, among others. It shows Fridays and Saturdays.

Admission for each laser show is $6.

The planetarium show for March and April is 20th Century Universe, which shows at 7 p.m. Fridays and 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturdays. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for seniors and children under 13.

The 20th century has been one of the most remarkable periods in history. Incredible breakthroughs have occurred in almost all areas of our concept of the universe. With dazzling special effects, 20th Century Universe traces some of the most amazing discoveries science has made about the universe.

The Renaissance Center’s CyberSphere Digital Theatre is a four-story domed theatre with one of the world’s first 360-degree laser projectors, capable of more than 1 trillion colors, as well as the Digistar starfield projector, which can produce 9,000 stars and all of the constellations while allowing viewers to travel through them in three dimensions. Along with more than a dozen slide, video and effects projectors, the theatre has a 14,000-watt digital surround sound system.

For more information on CyberSphere shows, call (615)740-5600. The Renaissance Center is an arts and technology education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.

Visit the CyberSphere page for more about Planetarium and Laser Shows or the Home - News page for current and archived press releases.