28 August 2024 | 14:15–15:45
Performative Session: Mars Frequencies
Musical frequencies of Earth and Mars and its moons
Tuuli Lempa, piano & live electronics
Karstein Djupdal, Lumatone, composition
Janne Holopainen, PhD, astronomer, visualisations
Rubina Kotak, PhD, astronomer & researcher, University of Turku, Department of Physics and Astronomy
I Presentation: Mars put into context in our solar system and its place in our galaxy
PhD Rubina Kotak
II Visualized concert Mars Frequencies
for piano, microtonal keyboard and electronic soundscape
The concert Mars frequencies provides an artistic impression of Mars. The music is performed with a Lumatone microtonal keyboard and a grand piano that has been expanded with live electronics. During the concert, visualisations of the planet Mars and its moons will be projected onto the walls of the concert hall. These visualisations will be interacting with the parameters of the musical performance.
The music has a microtonal approach: the frequencies are derived from the orbital periods of Earth, Mars and its two moons. The longer Mars-day is symbolised by a stretched scale in which each scale step is a bit larger than the scale steps used on the grand piano. The piano will represent the Earth in this performance. Additional solo piano compositions matching the celestial theme will also be heard as part of the programme.
We thank The Norwegian-Finnish Cultural Foundation for their support to this project.
Tuuli Lempa is a versatile pianist and concert producer. She has been working with live electronic piano music since 2009, when she studied the subject at the Norwegian Music Academy in Oslo. She has also composed electroacoustic music. She has been promoting contemporary music by ordering several new compositions and performing them. She took her MA in Music in Norway in 2012 with pianist Håkon Austbø as her supervisor. In this project, she plays the live electronic grand piano.
Photo: Jussi Virkkumaa
Karstein Djupdal plays the piano and the Lumatone (microtonal keyboard) in this project. He is the designer of the concept and has created the electronic soundscape of the new piece Mars Frequencies. Karstein Djupdal is from northern Norway, where he works as a composer, pianist and music teacher. He has composed electronic works as well as works for piano, sinfonietta, and choir. He is a member of the Norwegian Society of Composers.
Janne Holopainen, an alumnus of the University of Turku, earned his doctorate in Astronomy in 2007. His dissertation, titled “Investigations of Structure in Dark Matter Haloes”, included methods for visualising cosmological simulations of dark matter. Harnessing his background in astronomy, he has applied his expertise to a new and exhilarating venture. He presents a visual experience that merges astrophysical phenomena with musical artistry – visualisations of the orbits of Mars, its moons, and Earth. These celestial choreographies are partly synchronised with the musical performance, creating a combination of science and sound.
Rubina Kotak received her PhD degree in 2003 from Lund University, Sweden, on the seismology of white dwarfs. From 2002 to 2005, she worked at Imperial College London under a fellowship of the Royal Commission of the Exhibition of 1851. Following a stint as a research fellow at the European Southern Observatory headquarters in Munich, she moved to Queen’s University Belfast, N. Ireland, where she was based until 2017 as an Associate Professor. Seeking better weather, she joined the University of Turku where she is currently based. Her research interests include supernovae, massive stars, and gravitational waves.