Art and Science Unite in the program “The Creation of the World”

ATLANTA, Ga., (December 12, 2011) - The Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta (ECMSA) presents an innovative program featuring a discussion and performance of Darius Milhaud’s “The Creation of the World” on Sunday, January 29 at 4 p.m. in the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts. The program begins by exploring the scientific origins of life and of music, and culminates with live performances to show how life and music develop.

“The Creation of the World” integrates the fields of chemistry and music into a discussion and performance featuring some of the university’s top performers and scholars. David Lynn, chemistry department chair at Emory and scientist at the Center for Chemical Evolution, opens the program in a lively, contrapuntal scripted conversation with Dwight Andrews, associate professor of music, detailing the parallels between the creation of the world and the creation of a musical masterpiece. The discussion will compare the smallest elements of music and the smallest elements of life, and how these elements grow—until reaching a full life-form and finished musical composition.

ECMSA artistic director and Emory director of piano studies, William Ransom, says of the event, “This program will give us new information and ideas and stimulate thoughts about where both life and music come from, and how they might be related. Scientific minds will learn about and enjoy the music; musical minds will learn about and enjoy the science; and the general public will be excited, enriched and educated by it all.”

The second half of the program will feature performances by Ransom, the Vega String Quartet, and an all-star cast of guest artists and Emory faculty conducted by Richard Prior, director of orchestral studies at Emory. It will open with a performance of the Adagio and Fugue from J. S. Bach’s Sonata in C for Solo Violin, followed by Bela Bartok’s String Quartet #3 and conclude with Darius Milhaud’s “The Creation of the World."

Milhaud’s delightful 20th century masterpiece was originally a ballet, with music outlining the creation of the world as based on African folk mythology. This piece will be played by a 19-member chamber orchestra and will close the program with a powerful demonstration of how art and science intersect and can be understood.

Tickets: general $20; discount category $15; Emory faculty, staff, Friends of Music and all students free. This program is made possible in part with support from the NSF/NASA Center for Chemical Evolution.

Source: http://www.theweekly.com/news/2011/December/12/Creation_world.html