(Vienna, 19 February 2018) Music meets medicine and science: the "Sounds and Science" series of concerts will continue on 17 March 2018 in Vienna's Sofiensaal concert hall (Marxergasse 17, 1030 Vienna, Start time: 19:00 hrs) but this time with a new look. The evening goes under the title of "Ageing" and "Classic meets Clubbing". "Sounds and Science" was started by MedUni Vienna researchers – and correlates the music of classic composers with their medical history, as seen from a present-day perspective. Against the backdrop of classical works by Johannes Brahms, Johann Strauss junior and Gustav Mahler, their medical histories are outlined in terms of modern medical data – this time on the theme of "Ageing".
Embedded within this musical setting, there will be interesting short presentations, dedicated, for example, to heart disease, infectious diseases or cancer, against the background of traditional medicine. For example, the grand seigneur of ageing research, Georg Wick of the Medical University of Innsbruck, will talk about the "Fundamentals of ageing – from programmed cell death to pension reform". The audience will also gain insights into the musical works of the famous personalities who suffered from these diseases or, as in Mahler's case, composed works about ageing, death and immortality.
Clemens Hellberg, former Director of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and NEWS editor-in-chief Heinz Sichrovsky will enter into a fascinating dialogue with MedUni Vienna researchers Petra Munda from the Department of Medicine III, nephrologist Marcus D. Säemann and internist Dieter Hecking.
And, for the first time, there will be an opportunity at the end of the evening for the audience to attend a clubbing event ("Classic meets Clubbing"), talk to the scientists, musicians and to Markus Müller, Rector of MedUni Vienna, which is sponsoring the initiative.
DJ Kirill Kobantschenko will be providing the sounds.
The detailed programme for 17 March 2018:
- - Albena Danailova, Kirill Kobantschenko, Manfred Hecking, Silke Avenhaus / Johann Strauss: Overture from the operetta "Die Fledermaus"
- - Marcus Säemann, Petra Munda, Manfred Hecking, Clemens Hellsberg / Presentation: About Strauss and Brahms
- - Albena Danailova, Silke Avenhaus / Johannes Brahms: Sonata for violin and piano in G major, opus 78
- - Georg Wick / Presentation: Fundamentals of ageing – From programmed cell death to pension reform
- - Adrian Eröd, Silke Avenhaus / Gustav Mahler: Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen [Songs of a Wayfarer]
- - Marcus Säemann, Petra Munda, Manfred Hecking, Clemens Hellsberg / Presentation: About Strauss and Mahler
- - Adrian Eröd, Albena Danailova, Kirill Kobantschenko, Manfred Hecking, Silke Avenhaus / Johann Strauss: "Einst träumte mir, dass ich der Schah von Persien wär" [Once I dreamed that I was the Shah of Persia] (from the operatta Fürstin Ninetta)
- - And last but not least: Clubbing with DJ Kirill Kobantschenko
About "Sounds and Science"
The idea for the unusual "Sounds and Science" concert series was dreamed up by a musician, two scientists and a scientist/doctor: a member of the Philharmonic Orchestra, Thilo Fercher, the two scientists and internists/nephrologists Gere Sunder-Plassmann and Marcus D. Säemann and MedUni Vienna internist and musician Manfred Hecking. They are especially interested in the medical conditions suffered by world-famous composers and, on top of that, they want science "to be heard". It is immaterial whether the composers' works had anything to do with their medical histories or not. What is important to them, however, is that people re-experience and understand the latest knowledge about diseases and the current status of research within the context of music. Music can and should open the mind: the creators of "Sounds and Science" want to stimulate this process.