Black Hole Symphony preview: Orchestral work blends science with music

An extraordinary piece called Black Hole Symphony translates cutting-edge research on black holes into an electro-symphonic score with five movements

By Bethan Ackerley

David Ibbett set out to capture black hole complexity in sound

Rajarajan Palanimurugan

Black Hole Symphony

David Ibbett

Museum of Science in Boston, Massachusetts, and Multiverse Concert Series On 28 July and 25 August

TAKE a second to imagine the sound of the cosmos. What comes to mind? Is it the howling winds of a far-flung exoplanet? The roiling eruptions at the surface of the sun? Or simply the nothingness that would greet you in the boundless vacuum of space?

In the absence of recordings of the “real” sounds of our universe, you …