Engineer, astronaut, and classically trained violinist Sarah Gillis played the violin solo part from her SpaceX Polaris Dawn capsule in a concert that included youth from Haiti, Uganda, Venezuela, Brazil, Sweden, and Boston. They produced a music video called, ["Harmony of Resilience,"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lD1ixTr4JWY&t=250s
) which was released Sept. 13. It is now being used to raise money for music education and also to finance research into childhood cancers. All of the youth involved in this concert participate in the music education program known as “El Sistema” which was created by José Antonio Abreu in Venezuela and promoted around the world by conductor Gustavo Dudamel.
Astronaut Sarah Gillis has been working as the lead engineer involved in training all of the astronauts involved in the SpaceX missions and has also trained a few NASA astronauts. Gillis gives much of the credit for her scientific achievements to her classical training as a violinist. “My mother was a music teacher and one of my biggest champions. It is because of her that I received classical training on the violin, and it is because of my music education that I became the engineer and astronaut I am today,” said Gillis. “The focused discipline, work ethic, and creative instincts I honed through studying violin set me on the path that led to my extraordinary adventure into space.”
