3rd BIENNALE for New Music

“However, we believe that insight into the complex workings of nature and the human mind can also be gained in ways other than through science. One such way is through artistic representation.” (H. v. Helmholtz 1892)

“Hearing with Helmholtz” – Heidelberg's contribution to the 3rd Biennale for New Music in the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region in 2025 as a transdisciplinary musical-scientific project

Heidelberg is not only a “city of science” today, as the station sign says, but has also been historically shaped by important representatives of the humanities (Hegel, Jaspers, Gadamer) and natural sciences (Bunsen, Kirchhoff, among others). One of the most important was the physician and physicist Hermann von Helmholtz, who worked here from 1858 to 1870 and co-founded several scientific research areas and institutes.

His "Lehre von den Tonempfindungen als physiologische Grundlage für die Theorie der Musik" (On the Sensation of Tone as the Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music), written in Heidelberg in 1863, is one of the most important works on auditory physiology and continues to inspire physiological, neurological, and psychological hearing researchers to this day. But aestheticians, philosophers, and musicologists also repeatedly refer to Helmholtz when they study hearing and understanding, from the ear to the areas of the brain.

This year's biennial aims to demonstrate that such engagement is also possible in an artistic way (and nevertheless in close collaboration with academic experts from a wide range of disciplines) and, moreover, can be made comprehensible to a contemporary audience as a direct concert experience: extended concert events by KlangForum will take place in February 2025 at various locations in Heidelberg (BETRIEBSWERK, Old Auditorium of the University, Old Lecture Hall of the Physics Institute, Jesuit Church), but in the run-up to the event, interfaculty university courses and school projects (initiated by KlangForum) will focus on hearing with Helmholtz.

Since its founding over 30 years ago, KlangForum has been excitingly combining “traditional” music with contemporary music, and so here too, works by/about Helmholtz (such as those by his friend Richard Wagner or his contemporary Johannes Brahms) will be performed alongside five specially commissioned works by living composers in world premieres by Walter Nußbaum's internationally renowned special ensembles SCHOLA HEIDELBERG and ensemble aisthesis.

“From tone to sound”: Accompanied by lectures, introductions, and audience discussions, a school project in the run-up to the event, and the affiliation of a joint seminar involving several faculties of Heidelberg University, such events once again demonstrate the unique opportunities offered by the city of Heidelberg and the outstanding scientists and artists who still reside here today as a city of science and culture.

Further information can be found at: www.biennale-neue-musik.com