Bach, the Universe and Everything: X-Ray Planets

Bach, the Universe and Everything continues with one of Bach's best-known cantatas, Wachet auf, ruf uns die Stimme.

Popularly known as ‘Sleepers Awake!’ after the famous opening chorale fantasia, Bach’s Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme’ has come to be closely associated with the Advent season although written for performance in November. At its heart are two duets for soprano and bass soloists depicting a dialogue between Jesus and the Soul.

Our guest speaker, Affelia Wibisono (from Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies) will introduce her work studying the x-rays given off by planets to better understand their atmosphere, surfaces, rings, moon, magnetic fields and aurora.

Bach, the Universe and Everything 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. 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.

Series music director: Steven Devine

View the whole intergalactic season >

Animated depiction of GW170817, a stellar phenomenon, showing a bright explosion in space with blue and purple hues and ejecting streams of red and blue particles in opposite directions, set against a backdrop of stars. — A Tour of Jupiter's Auroras (NASA)

A student participating in an open workshop with violinist Matthew Truscott and other members of the OAE

Japanese conductor Masaaki Suzuki conducts the OAE with singer Florian Stortz

OAE musicians run a workshop in a school classroom

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London, King's Place

Sunday 24 November 2024, 11:30am

Event detail

Bach, the Universe and Everything continues with one of Bach's best-known cantatas, Wachet auf, ruf uns die Stimme.

Did you know you can support the OAE?

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