The renowned New York-based Mivos Quartet will bring a new marine science-themed score by a UC San Diego team to life on Wednesday.
The quartet will perform “Hearing Seascapes” at 6 p.m. on May 29 in Atkinson Hall Auditorium. The concert is free and open to the public.
The music includes the sounds of beluga whales and Arctic ice in addition to the notes of classic stringed instruments.
UC San Diego music professor Lei Liang, the research artist in residence at the Qualcomm Institute, worked with Professor John Hildebrand and doctoral candidate Josh Jones at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and students from the Department of Music and the Jacobs School of Engineering to compose the score.
Liang said he hopes “Hearing Seascapes” will connect with people in a way that inspires future generations to preserve and better understand critically important natural environments.
“In a way, our homes are being destroyed. And with the technology and our creative artistic approach, perhaps there is a way we can reclaim what our home can be,” he said.
Laing said the experience has changed how he thinks about music. He said he found himself asking new questions about sound and how it is perceived. For example, how would a marine animal listen and communicate through silence and sound?
Since its founding in 2008, the Mivos Quartet has performed contemporary music for diverse audiences at venues in Asia, Europe and South America. Recently, they won the Ursula Mamlok Prize, which is awarded to ensembles or soloists making significant contributions to the performance of new music.