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This year, art and science will come together as Batavia’s Fermilab’s new guest composer aims to create “music for interpreting particle science in new ways.”
Chicago composer and pianist Misha Zupko, an adjunct faculty member in DePaul University’s School of Music, was recently named the lab’s 2024 guest composer by the Fermi Research Alliance. Zupko will be supported in his musical creation by Chicago’s Civitas Ensemble and saxophonist Timothy McAllister.
“My understanding is that the ability to imagine in a physical sense the phenomena associated with the behavior and interactions of subatomic particles is impossible, but there is beauty in the attempt to imagine,” he said in a press release. mentioned in. Regarding his appointment as a guest composer.
The Chicago composer has already delved into music for the stars, mathematics, and other sciences, including works like “Eclipse,” which “conveys the alignment of the sun and moon,” according to a release, and pieces about the evening sky. . The focus of his cello piece “From Twilight”.
Georgia Schwender of Geneva, Fermilab’s visual arts coordinator, said the guest artist and composer program has been around for about 10 years and calls for artists each year.
“Anyone can apply and we’ll receive a submission. Our judging panel is made up of an artist, a scientist, myself, and two other people, but this changes every year. So we choose new people. “We have a different perspective each time,” she said. “We review the submissions and then select the guest composer for Fermilab, in this case Misha.”
Schwender said Zupko visited Fermilab in January and was shown around “places the general public can’t go, with experts that the public doesn’t normally interact with.”
“Throughout the year, he’ll be on-site, meeting via Zoom and over the phone to learn about what we’re doing here at Fermilab, and to provide inspiration for the artwork and songs we’ll be digging into. ” Schwender said. “In the end, we hope that some people will produce written works and works of art that we can share with our community and the public.”
Zupko, 52, said she wanted to join the program because “I’ve always been very interested in physics, and when I saw this opportunity come along, it just seemed natural.” Told.
“It gives me an opportunity to understand the subject that I loved, to talk to scientists who are at the top of their fields and research, and to ask some of the questions that I have,” he said. Told. “Through that process, hopefully, you get the inspiration to create a piece of music that’s an idea about your research, or some kind of tangible work of art that allows the public to experience what you’re trying to discover.” I also hope to be able to transform and create things about the universe and what makes it up. ”
Schwender said the program is individually tailored to each artist and composer.
“All the artists and composers, we try to include them and give them opportunities that they wouldn’t normally have,” she said. She said, “Misha has her own ideas about how she wants her music to reach the community, and we want to make this the best outreach possible.”
Zupko said the next year will “prompt me to think in new ways as an artist.”
“Part of my proposal is to create pieces for specific ensembles. I also have a recording contract with Cedile Recordings, so a lot of things have come together.” he said. “When it comes to creation, it can sometimes take years for a composer to get the right feel for a piece. It’s something you can learn deeply.”
Regarding science and art, Schwender argues that “scientists and artists are more similar than different.”
“We might like to think that they’re very interested in their world and not proactive about things,” she says. “There are many intersections between the arts and sciences, and not everyone can understand each of these professions and missions. We want to join our community and make the arts and sciences more accessible. I think: I don’t read books about particle science, but I do go to concerts. If you want to break it down to the bare minimum, we can try to make science more accessible to the community. It means that there is.”
Zupko admits he’s still “thinking about what path I’m going to take,” but is leaning toward the lab’s “search for dark matter and how they approach it.” Ta.
“They know it exists, but they can’t see it yet,” he said. “I’m very interested right now in trying to see something that’s hidden from our view because I’ve been to the lab and seen the way they try to look at it, and I wants to express this in the world of sound.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for Beacon News.
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