Music, spoken word and images will blend in an homage to pioneering scientist Galileo Galilei on Wednesday March 4 at the National Press Club in Canberra to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy.
Harmonious Revolutions: Galileo & the Music of the Spheres will feature lush Renaissance and Baroque music performed on instruments from the period by the new ensemble
Consort Astræa. The program, which includes some early drinking songs, will be interlaced with writings of both Galileo and his father Vincenzo. Questacon’s ‘Excited Particles’, Patrick Helean and Owen Collins, will present the readings. The concert and readings will also be accompanied by beautiful images of the stars by renowned astrophotographer David Malin.
Galileo and Vincenzo were both revolutionaries, radically shifting the ground in their respective fields of science and music. Galileo pioneered the use of the telescope in astronomy and his observations nailed in place the new, sun-centred view of the solar system while his father Vincenzo’s ideas lead directly to the birth of opera and the creation of a more expressive style in music, which we now call "baroque".
The list of composers in the program is a who’s who of the musical ferment of the day, including Galileo’s brother Michelagnolo, their father Vincenzo and the radical circle of musical philosophers he helped to found: the Florentine Camerata (which included Peri, Caccini and Cavalieri).
This is the debut event for Consort Astraea, featuring some of Australia’s finest period musicians: Louisa Hunter-Bradley (soprano), Julia Freddersdorf (baroque violin), Miriam Morris (viola da gamba), Laura Vaughan (viola da gamba), Ruth Wilkinson (viola da gamba), and artistic director Andrew Byrne (lute, theorbo).
“The ancient blend of music and cosmology is echoed in the achievements of both Vincenzo Galilei and his son, Galileo,” says lutenist and artistic director Andrew Byrne. “Scholars now think that Vincenzo’s distrust of authority and belief in original experimentation directly influenced Galileo, his eldest son.”
Dr John Beaton, Executive Director of the National Academies Forum, which is sponsoring the performance, says, “In Galileo’s day, thinkers used musical concepts to describe and explain the world. Science and music were linked in a philosophical way which they aren’t now. But this event brings them back together.”
Harmonious Revolutions: Galileo & the Music of the Spheres is sponsored by the National Academies Forum and forms part of Universities Australia’s Inaugural Higher Education Conference. It is also supported by Questacon – The National Science and Technology Centre.
The International Year of Astronomy 2009 is the 400th anniversary of Galileo turning a telescope to the heavens. It is a celebration of the science, history and cultural impact of astronomy, and of humanity’s common heritage of the night sky. IYA is coordinated globally by the International Astronomical Union and endorsed by the United Nations.
Event: 8pm, Wednesday March 4, The National Press Club of Australia, 16 National Circuit, Barton, ACT. The concert is FREE, but bookings are essential on 02 6249 1788 or [email protected]
www.astronomy2009.org.au
