Heart of the Galaxy from Black Hole Symphony
Credit: NASA
It’s so exciting to be creating a piece for MMTA members this year! I direct a project called Multiverse Concert Series which combines music and science in live performance. We’re currently creating a show about black holes, and this commission will form a crucial part of that project: Black Hole Symphony
Black holes were long thought to be an oddity of the universe, with many doubting if they even existed at all. Thanks to the research of dedicated teams around the world, we now know black holes to be spread throughout the universe: the seed at the heart of every galaxy.
And yet, we cannot visit them, or even see them directly. Our knowledge of these far-off phenomena comes from heavily processed data gathered by radio telescope, interferometer and satellite. Though images can be compiled - giving an impression of vast scales and energies - the true magnitude and beauty of a black hole system remains out of reach.
The goal of Black Hole Symphony is to bring these mysteries of the past and distant universe into present experience through an immersive fusion of music, science narration, and planetarium visuals. The project will transport an audience on a journey through spacetime: traveling back billions of lightyears to a moment when the stars were outshined by the activity of supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies.
For the MMTA Commission, I am composing the Heart of the Galaxy Theme based on a sonification of the electromagnetic spectrum of an AGN (active galaxy nucleus), shrouding a supermassive black hole at its center. Gathering and analysing electromagnetic waves reveals the exotic geography and topology of the entire galaxy - including its dusty donut-shaped torus, broad and narrow line clouds, and the white hot accretion disc that converts matter to energy as it spirals towards the event horizon. Each of these features emits a unique electromagnetic signal, but sadly they are beyond the range of human vision.
As a composer I began to wonder, could we hear them instead?
AGN electromagnetic spectrum model from Mojegan Azadi, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Compared to our eyes, our ears are sensitive to a much wider range of frequencies: ten octaves of sound compared to only one octave of light. Since light and sounds are both waves, it is possible to convert a galaxy’s light waves into sound through a process of sonification- allowing us to perceive more of what lies in the distant corners of our universe. I used this technique in my previous project Octave of Light to sonify exoplanet atmospheres, and this new project will push it to far greater scales as we listen to an entire black hole galaxy.
Heart of the Galaxy is scored for solo piano, with an additional version for beginner-level piano, and will be made available to all MMTA and MTNA members. The piece will be premiered at the Quad State conference, and later be scored for orchestra and be incorporated into Black Hole Symphony in the Museum of Science Planetarium, Summer 2022. Hope to see you there!
Octave of Light, album launch with the Museum of Science, Boston
Dr. David Ibbett, MMTA Commissioned Composer 2021