guest composer

“Beyond the Visible”, a unique exhibit representing the collaboration between artists and scientists from the Fermilab at the Schingoethe Center of Aurora University. The exhibit aims to spark dialogue and bring a new perspective to the forefront of scientific inquiry and artistic expression and is open to the public until May.

Mischa Zupko, the 2024 guest composer at Fermilab, will work with Fermilab scientists to create musical interpretations of projects like the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. He will use actual mathematical models to create his compositions and plans to use the scientific model as the basis for the music.

Chicago-based composer and pianist Mischa Zupko has been named 2024 guest composer at Fermilab. Zupko will draw inspiration from themes of the universe, cosmic phenomena, and mathematical models to create music interpreting particle physics.

Mischa Zupko, adjunct faculty member of the School of Music at DePaul University, will collaborate with scientists at Fermilab and members of the Chicago-based Civitas Ensemble to create music based on scientific models in particle science.

Fermilab selected its next guest composer for the year-long residency program.

As this year’s composer-in-residence, they will create musical pieces in concert with Fermilab’s scientists.

From Nature, Feb. 17, 2021: Fermilab guest composer David Ibbett writes about his latest piece, Neutrino Music, and how bringing artists and scientists together on the stage can help them to communicate the complex beauty of our world in a language that everyone can understand and appreciate.

From Yale University, Jan. 22, 2021: For his new piece of music, “MicroBooNE,” David Ibbett, Fermilab’s first composer-in-residence, collaborated with physics professor Bonnie Fleming through a series of discussions about the science behind the experiment that inspired the composition. The neutrino-inspired piece premiered on Dec. 8, 2020, as part of the Fermilab Arts and Lectures Series.

David Ibbett, Fermilab’s first guest composer, converts real scientific data into musical notes and rhythms. His latest piece, “MicroBooNE,” will make its world premiere at a virtual concert on Dec. 8. In this audio interview, Ibbett shares a sneak peek of the song and explains his compositional process.

An ensemble of soprano, strings, piano and electronics gives voice to the mysterious neutrino in David Ibbett’s latest musical work as Fermilab guest composer. Mapping the waves of neutrino oscillation onto melodies played by the strings, Ibbett sonifies a neutrino phenomenon typically represented in abstract mathematical expressions. Hear the performance and Ibbett’s comments in this four-minute video.