To announce the New Year of 2026, Marlborough College Concert Series presented ‘Einstein’s Music’.
This was a unique concert, an amalgam of music and physics – half concert, half lecture, which explored the science in music and the music in science, with particle physicist Professor Brian Foster and two star musicians, Jack Liebeck (violin) and Katya Apekisheva (piano).
Albert Einstein was the kind of physicist that you don’t tend to find much anymore: a polymath contributor of a remarkable body of work across multiple areas of physics who, in addition to his scientific achievements, fostered a lifelong passion for music.
His musical interest was the violin, and he particularly enjoyed the music of Bach, Mozart and Brahms, and alongside that he also inspired several composers to write works especially for him, most notably Martinu and Bloch.
All of these composers were featured in this recital, which was so elegantly presented amidst the (at times) bamboozling but witty lecture from Professor Foster that went on about muons, baby black holes, and colliders….
As for Jack and Katya, their performances were sublime: sophisticated, cultured, expert balance between the two instruments, and altogether very moving.
A truly fascinating and refreshing occasion, which the large audience clearly thoroughly appreciated.
PTD
Artistic Director