Music opens the mind: third "Sound and Science" concert on 8 November 2015

(Vienna, 22 October 2015) The third "Sounds and Science" music and medicine event will take place in the Mozart Hall of Vienna Concert Hall at 3 pm on Sunday 8 November. The theme of the evening is "Music and Heart Failure". This unique series of lectures and concert performances, which started in autumn 2014, is dedicated to major diseases such as diabetes, cancer and infectious diseases. The medical history of classic composers is examined from a modern medical perspective and compared with their music. The program has been put together by first-class musicians, scientists from MedUni Vienna and international researchers.

Embedded within the musical program, natural scientists and doctors provide a current insight into the key questions of modern research that go beyond clinical medicine. Together they look beyond the link between natural science and art and offer the public unique access to the topics of medicine and music.

From Bruckner via Wagner and Mahler to Kreisler
The evening starts with an intermezzo in D minor for string quintet by Anton Bruckner, performed by Christian Altenburger, Lydia Altenburger, Hariolf Schlichtig, Thilo Fechner and Wen-Sinn Yang.  The program also includes "Dreams" from Richard Wagner’s Wesendonck Lieder – interpreted by Wen-Sinn Yang and Gottlieb Wallisch. The audience can also hear Gustav Mahler's piano quartet in A minor – played by Christian Altenburger, Hariolf Schlichtig, Wen-Sinn Yang and Gottlieb Wallisch. The concert ends with Fritz Kreisler’s prelude and allegro in the style of Gaetano Pugnani.

About cardiac death
Embedded within this musical setting, there will be short talks dedicated to heart disease, against the backdrop of classical music. The medical histories of the composers Mahler, Bruckner, Wagner and Kreisler will be illustrated using modern clinical and medical data. This will give the audience interesting insights into the musical works of the famous personalities who suffered from these diseases.


Clemens Hellsberg, former Chairman of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and Klaus Laczika of the University Department for Internal Medicine I at MedUni Vienna and founder and artistic director of the "St. Florianer Brucknertage" festival will talk about Anton Bruckner. Gian Domenico Borasio, holder of the chair for palliative medicine at Lausanne University and visiting lecturer in palliative medicine at the Technical University of Munich ponders on "Living with the threat of cardiac death". Manfred Hecking, who is doing his specialist training in internal medicine/nephrology at the Medical University of Vienna, and Thomas Weiss, cardiologist at the Vienna Wilhelminenspital, will discuss Wagner. Marcus Säemann of the University Department of Internal Medicine III at MedUni Vienna is discussing Mahler and Harald Krumpöck, Director of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, is talking about Kreisler. Cardiologist Diana Bonderman (MedUni Vienna) and Chairman of the University Department of Cardiac Surgery at Salzburg General Hospital, Rainald Seitenberger, will round off the scientific themes. Cultural journalist Heinz Sichrovsky will be the master of ceremonies for the evening.

The idea behind "Sounds and Science": music opens the mind
The idea for this unusual series of concerts was conceived by one musician, two doctors and one doctor/musician: member of the philharmonic orchestra Thilo Fechner, the two doctors Marcus D. Säemann and Gere Sunder-Plassmann and doctor and musician Manfred Hecking. They are especially interested in the conditions suffered by world famous composers and, more than that, they want science "to be heard". It is unimportant whether the composers' works had anything to do with their medical histories or not but what IS important 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 instigators want to set this process in train.

Additional concert for MedUni Vienna students on 9 November 2015
The concert will be repeated for students of the Medical University of Vienna at 1 pm on 9 November in the framework of the "Interdisciplinary case conferences" lecture in the MedUni Vienna lecture center, levels 7 & 8, lecture theatre 1 and lecture theatre 2, and will take a slightly modified form with extra scientific content.

The concert is being sponsored by the Austrian Heart Fund (Österreichischer Herzfonds), AVINA Foundation, SPLP Sunder-Plassmann Loibner & Partner Solicitors and Grayling Austria. The net proceeds from the event are being donated to the Austrian Heart Fund (www.herzfonds.at).

For further information and tickets go to:
http://soundsandscience.com


http://soundsandscience.com/