Mozart & the Stars

Creation of the Cosmos & Artistic Creation

Some count the stars; Hubert Reeves recounts the story of the stars… Acclaimed astrophysicist and author of numerous specialised publications, Reeves devotes one third of his time to popularizing science for the general public. “I believe, he says, that communicating scientific understanding is at least as important as increasing knowledge: it is unhealthy and sometimes dangerous to cultivate ivory tower secrets where science is concerned.” He greatly appreciates literature and music, similar to the free spirits of former times who elegantly mixed science and art. Wondrous books such as Atoms of Silence, Stardust, Malicorne, The Hour of Our Delight, films like The Stars Also Are Born, Life in the Universe, and numerous television broadcasts have made him well known to the public along with his eternal question: Does the universe have meaning? All of this generosity is a form of religion, an investment in intelligence. His gravelly voice with its hearty Quebec accent can start stones rolling in streams, and he lends this delivery to the service of the music he loves: Mozart, among others. In Mozart & the Stars, Hubert Reeves narrates the parallels between musical and cosmic creation, intimately mixing chamber music with tales of the genesis of stars. Passionate about music in all spheres, he invites us, as he does in his books, to find sense of the universe and the human adventure. The complementary nature of scientific, aesthetic and ethical research…Let him speak of Mozart: “I cannot think without emotion of the moment when Mozart, having just finished composing Don Giovanni, puts down his quill and assembles the pages. It is a special moment in the story of humanity and by extension in all of reality. All creators, musicians, painters and poets, have added beauty to the world. They have enriched our lives by giving us access to moments of ineffable happiness. And by extension, I believe that every human being, in his own sphere of activity, whether large or small, can be an eighth-day creator.”


Programme

Mozart

Quartet in D major, “Hoffmeister”, K. 499 (Allegro • Adagio • Allegro)


Starring