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Music and physics subject of lecture by Nashville Symphony director

Giancarlo Guerrero (courtesy of Nashville Symphony)
Giancarlo Guerrero (courtesy of Nashville Symphony)

Vanderbilt’s physics and astronomy department has invited Giancarlo Guerrero to deliver a lecture on campus. The award-winning music director of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra will talk about music, physics and the symphony on Thursday, Sept. 13, at 4 p.m. in the Stevenson Center Lecture Hall, Room 4327. The lecture is free and open to the public.

The title for Guerrero’s presentation is “Music and the Nashville Symphony, with Physics Overtones.” He describes it as an open discussion.

“I’m happy to start the conversation by talking about this coming season and what audiences can expect for the future,” he said. He also will talk about some programs that the symphony has done that have touched on physics themes, such as John Adams’ Dr. Atomic Symphony – adapted from an opera of the same name about Robert Oppenheimer and the invention of the atomic bomb – and Cindy McTee’s Einstein’s Dream. Guerrero invites attendees to bring comments, questions and requests for the symphony.

“Occasionally the department likes to include cultural subjects in its regular colloquia and this is one of those cases,” said physics professor Norman Tolk, who organized the event. “Music and physics have a long-standing relationship, and Guerrero is a very dynamic speaker.”