Tim Linhart is an ice sculptor that was inspired by one important piece he created many years ago: a giant violin that was fully functional and whose music was so beautiful he knew that he had to create more. Originally from New Mexico, the artist moved to Sweden after meeting his wife there and to be closer to the icy climates. He founded Ice Music, a “celebration of the winter spirit of Swedish Lapland – a new art form where the musicians play on instruments made of ice.”
Not only are the instruments made of ice but the entire concert hall where Ice Music is held has been constructed from ice in the ground as well. His music hall features colorful lights that make the surrounding ice even more beautiful as the colors glisten within.
Linhart knows that if he hadn’t first created the ice violin, none of this would have come to fruition. He recalls sitting on top of a mountain with his creation over 20 years ago and explains how the moment changed his life.
“I plucked on the wires and I heard the sound coming out from inside the instrument. I was so excited by what I heard that I put on my skis and skied all the way down to the village and told them what had happened to me and how excited I was.”
Now living in Luleå, Swedish Lapland, Linhart runs his concert hall and continues to create ICEstruments to equip the musicians with so they can perform in the hall. The venue is popular because it’s such a unique experience and the music sounds amazing. Linhart told Organic Spa Magazine,
“The acoustics of ice are great. Wood is soft and absorbs a lot of the sound vibration. Ice absorbs the vibrations, too, but not as much as wood. The sound is sharper than wood. It is brighter. The ice allows you to hear more details, more texture. It produces a sound you can feel more intensely in your body.”
Linhart builds drums, guitars, violins, and more, and has also invented his own instruments, like the “Rolandophone” and the “Gravaton.” He has perfected his techniques and actually decided to build his own concert hall after a musical disaster at Sweden’s Ice Hotel that was caused by too much body heat.
He said his concert hall “is essentially a giant igloo designed to provide good acoustics and address the needs of the fragile instruments. There’s a hole at the top, which acts like a chimney for the heat of breaths and bodies to escape, so that the inside temperature stays at approximately 23 degrees Fahrenheit all the time.”
Watch Tom Linhart talk about his creations in the video below.
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