Mapping the Dark Universe
Bach, the Universe and Everything
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
| Gibbons | O Lord, in they wrath rebuke me not |
|---|---|
| Bach | Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit (Make yourself ready, my spirit), BWV 115 |
| Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment | |
|---|---|
| Choir of the Age of Enlightenment | |
| Steven Devine | director |
| TBC | speaker |
The OAE is joined by Catherine Heymans, the Astronomer Royal for Scotland, for a special season opener which also includes a cantata premiered almost exactly 300 years ago.
Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit (Make yourself ready, my spirit, BWV 115) carries a timelessly relevant message for the citizenry to be alert to malicious intentions.
Meanwhile, out in the Universe an epic cosmic battle is playing out between dark energy and dark matter. The gravity of dark matter is slowly pulling structures in the Universe together whilst dark energy fuels the Universe’s accelerated expansion, making it ever harder for those structures to grow. Catherine Heymans will explore this dark enigma and explain why she thinks in order to truly understand the dark side of the Universe, we will need some new physics that will forever change our cosmic view.
We begin our season-long survey of choral works by Orlando Gibbons with what Edmund Fellowes, a leading editor of the Tudor music revival, described as ‘one of the most perfect penitential anthems’.
In 2022 Catherine Heymans was diagnosed with Long Covid that has restricted her ability to travel. She will appear by video link for this event.
About Bach, the Universe and Everything
This is a concert series with a difference. Across six Sunday morning events, we explore the human desire to understand our place in the cosmos, guided by the work of JS Bach – composer and intergalactic genius – through his 200 cantatas. As NASA shares images from the very first moments of time, we invite you to join us on a cosmic journey: each event is built around a Bach cantata and a talk from a guest scientist, writer or broadcaster, alongside choral and instrumental music.
This performance will last approximately 1 hour 20 minutes including a Q&A at the end, without an interval.
‘He was wrong to think he could now forget that the big, hard, oily, dirty, rainbow-hung Earth on which he lived was a microscopic dot on a microscopic dot lost in the unimaginable infinity of the Universe.’
Douglas Adams, The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy