An orchestra and a physicist are collaborating for an event that will bring science and music together at Hamer Hall. Professor Brian Cox, one of the world’s pre-eminent physicists, will join the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra with conductor Daniel Harding for three concerts on November 15, 16 and 17 and take you through the big questions of eternity, death, rebirth and existence.
Paul Dean’s violin concerto A Brief History of Time, which was dedicated to late physicist and professor Stephen Hawking, will be performed by violin virtuoso Jack Liebeck with the orchestra. The first movement from Mahler’s Tenth Symphony will be the centrepiece of this musical movement as it communicates the composer’s struggle with the idea of the finite nature of our existence.
Guests will be treated to music from the pre-scientific age, and Cox will talk about our universe and solar system, presenting what was known about the world when the composers created their music and what is known now.
The performance on Saturday, 16 November will begin at 7.30pm and will feature a post-concert conversation with Professor Cox and special guests. The performance on Sunday, 17 November will begin at 4pm. Ticket prices range from $124 to $199 and can be purchased here.