Mar 11 2010
Check out our interview on BenchFly, where we discuss our Science/Music Commissioning Project, life as a scientist and musician, and other things.
Feb 14 2010
We are very excited to have just received the music from our latest commission. Frank Wallace has written for us a six-movement song cycle entitled Men, Women and Molecules, based on the beautiful poetry of Nobel Prize-winning chemist and accomplished poet and playwright Roald Hoffmann of Cornell University. Frank wrote this about the set:
The six-song-cycle begins with musical references to Roald’s Eastern European roots, minor scales with augmented seconds and compound meters. It progresses into lighter jazz harmonies, symbolic of his new homeland, in “Where shall I look for her?” and uses the image and music of “Amazing Grace” as sung by Judy Collins. The major seventh interval plays an important role throughout the cycle, both as a clashing dissonance, and as part of sentimental jazz chords. “Next slide, please” is a light-hearted jab at the academic world of science, but it proved the most daunting to set. The clashing dissonances and awkward melodies are intended as a technical or scientifically calculated counterpoint to, rather than a direct expression of, the inherent humor in the poem.
Learning these pieces will be a lot of fun, and we look forward to premiering them in the coming months.
Jan 2 2010
We are very excited about the latest piece in our Science/Music Commissioning Project. We have commissioned composer Frank Wallace to write a song cycle for us based on the poetry of Roald Hoffmann. Dr. Hoffmann is a Nobel-prize winning chemist and Professor at Cornell University, and also a wonderful poet. His poetry is beautiful and insightful, and often combines science themes with perspectives on human relationships. He runs a very interesting monthly series called “Entertaining Science” at the Cornelia Street Cafe in New York City, which pairs science presentations with eclectic musical performances.
Frank Wallace is a prolific composer of vocal music, guitar music, and music for other instruments. He is himself a fine guitarist and singer, and performs with his wife, Nancy Knowles, as Duo LiveOak. Frank directs Festival 21 in Boston, which is dedicated to new music for the guitar, and co-curates, with me, the Second Sundays Classical Guitar Concert Series in New York City.
It is an honor to be able to work with both Roald and Frank on this new piece.
May 3 2009
We’ve received the second in our series of new pieces for voice and guitar based on science themes. This one, entitled Scientiphilicty, was written for us by composer Thomas Donahue. The texts are based on the writings of a number of renowned scientists, including Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Niels Bohr, and Jacob Bronowski. The texts provide insight into what doing science entails, and draw interesting parallels between art and science.
Jul 6 2008
Composer Terry Champlin has written a new piece for us, Abyss of the Stars: A Mass for Voice and Guitar. This song cycle, in five movements, sets texts by renowned scientists within the context of the mass. The juxtaposition of these texts alongside the Latin words of the mass highlights the sense of wonder and celebration that accompany the scientific understanding of physical laws, human origins, and the evolution of the cosmos. Terry uses texts by the Jesuit priest and paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin and the great physicists Richard Feynman and Albert Einstein.
With our own backgrounds in mathematics and science, and Terry’s background in theoretical physics, this is an exciting new piece to have and to work on with Terry. We will be premiering the piece on September 14 in New York City in our concert on the Second Sundays Classical Guitar Concert Series.
May 26 2008
Music and science are two of our main interests, so we are excited to launch our Science/Music Commissioning Project. Our goal is to further the public understanding and appreciation of science through music. We are commissioning new music that explores the process of scientific discovery and the human side of the scientific endeavor through song.
For more information, see our Science/Music Commissioning Project page.