(Vienna/Graz, 11 November 2019) "Music, Immunology and Life Sciences" – that is the fascinating theme for the next concert in the "Sounds and Science" series, which will take place on 22 November 2019 in the auditorium of the Old University in Graz. "Sounds and Science" means music meets science. This series of events was dreamed up by researchers from MedUni Vienna. Each evening looks at the medical histories of classical composers, seen from a modern-day perspective, in direct relationship to their music. In collaboration with the Medical University of Graz and the Austrian Society for Allergology and Immunology (ÖGAI), the event on 22 November will feature Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert and Dmitri Shostakovich.
Embedded within the setting of beautiful music, leading medical experts will give interesting short talks about a specific disease and potential modern-day treatments for it. Pathologist Georg Wick and three of his former pupils – Lukas Huber, Georg Schett and Josef Penninger will take on the immunology section in Graz on 22 November. The medical histories of Mozart, Franz Schubert and Dmitri Shostakovich will be discussed from a modern medical perspective and compared and contrasted with their music. Literary scholar Herbert Zeman will also talk about Franz Schubert in the context of "Music and Poetry".
After the concert, there will be an opportunity to meet the artists and scientists in a relaxed setting to discuss and exchange ideas with them. A buffet is included in the entrance fee. For tickets and more details: http://soundsandscience.com.
The musical accompaniment will be provided by Albena Danailova (violin), Christoph Poppen (violin), Manfred Hecking (double bass), Silke Avenhaus (piano) and Juliane Banse (mezzosoprano), the medical talks will be given by cell biologist Lukas Huber, geneticist Josef Penninger, rheumatologist Georg Schett, pathologist Georg Wick and literary scholar Herbert Zeman, as well as nephrologist Alexander Rosenkranz (President of the ÖGAI) and nephrologist Kathrin Eller (Secretary of the ÖGAI).
The detailed programme for 22 November 2019 (start time: 19:00 hrs), auditorium of the Old University in Graz:
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Overture to the opera "The Marriage of Figaro"
- Talk: "The Austrian Society for Allergology and Immunology meets Sounds and Science" (Rosenkranz/Eller)
- Talk: "Mozart and Streptococcal Complications" (Schett)
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: "Allegretto grazioso" from the sonata in F major for violin and piano, KV 376
- "From Mozart to Schubert" (Rosenkranz/Eller)
- Franz Schubert: "Allegro giusto" from the sonatina in G minor for violin and piano, D 408
- Talk: "Schubert and the T Cell" (Huber)
- Franz Schubert: "Gretchen am Spinnrade" D 118 - opus 2 (lyrics: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
- Talk: "Music and Poetry - Schubert" (Zeman)
- Franz Schubert: "Schäfers Klagelied" D 121 – opus 2 and "Musensohn" D 764 – opus 92 (lyrics: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
- Talk: "The Immune System – Friend and Foe" (Wick)
- Dmitri Shostakovich: Two of the "Five pieces for two violins and piano"
- Talk: "Shostakovich and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)" (Penninger)
- Dmitri Shostakovich: "Waltz No. 2"
- Talk: "Future" (Rosenkranz/Eller)
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: "Laudate Dominum" – KV 339
About "Sounds and Science"
The idea for the unusual concert series "Sounds and Science" was dreamed up by a musician, two scientists and a scientist/doctor: member of the Philharmonic Orchestra, Thilo Fechner, the two scientists and internists/nephrologists Gere Sunder-Plassmann and Marcus D. Säemann and MedUni Vienna internist and musician Manfred Hecking. They are fascinated by the medical conditions suffered by world-famous composers and, moreover, 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 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 initiators of "Sounds and Science" want to stimulate this process.