Introductory symposium: The resonance of minimal music

In the midst of the concert season, Antwerp Symphony presents a Season Event where central themes such as the flow of time and the tension between life and survival are further explored. Theoretical physicist Thomas Hertog, who published his groundbreaking theory on the origin of time in close collaboration with Stephen Hawking, navigates through these themes in dialogue with thrilling symphonic music.

Music often creates a sense of space, but in fact, it is nothing but time made audible. And if anything can be said about time, it is that it continuously, even mercilessly, ticks away. Yet, music sometimes raises questions about our linear understanding of time. Precisely because music unfolds in time, it possesses the unique ability to manipulate our sense of time. This understanding was well grasped by musical minimalists such as Terry Riley, Philip Glass, and John Adams. Through the obsessive repetition of the same musical motif, paradoxically, their music creates a sense of stillness. The Season Event deepens this musical thought and links it to a universal and yet burning contemporary theme surrounding the limits of human knowledge.