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Bach’s student, Lorenz Christoph Mizler, once described Bach’s music as the process of sounding mathematics. The Goldberg Variations are perhaps one of the most beautiful examples of Bach’s mathematical ideas at work.

In this talk, mathematician and Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science Marcus du Sautoy will explain how ideas of symmetry are at work throughout the variations. Like an audible Alhambra, Bach plays with different symmetrical ideas to create the 30 variations that make up the piece.

Pianist Charles Owen has received outstanding critical acclaim for his performances of and insights into JS Bach’s keyboard works. For this special lecture recital he will bring his signature clarity of articulation and characterisation to the iconic Goldberg Variations.

Please note that the stream of this performance will be available to watch live only. It will not be available on demand. 

Marcus du Sautoy is the Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at the Oxford University, a chair he holds jointly at the Department of Continuing Education and the Mathematical Institute. He is also a Professor of Mathematics and a Fellow of New College. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2016. In 2001 he won the prestigious Berwick Prize of the London Mathematical Society awarded every two years to reward the best mathematical research made by a mathematician under 40. In 2004 Esquire Magazine chose him as one of the 100 most influential people under 40 in Britain and in 2008 he was included in the prestigious directory Who’s Who. In 2009 he was awarded the Royal Society’s Faraday Prize, the UK’s premier award for excellence in communicating science. He received an OBE for services to science in the 2010 New Year’s Honours List.

Described by Gramophone magazine as ‘one of the finest British pianists of his generation’, Charles Owen has enjoyed an extensive international career performing a wide ranging repertoire to outstanding critical acclaim. Charles Owen is a Professor of Piano at the Guildhall School in London and was appointed Steinway & Sons UK Ambassador in 2016.