UB faculty to take ‘Celestial Journey’

Several UB faculty members are taking a “Celestial Journey” next week with the Burchfield Penney Art Center (BPAC) at SUNY Buffalo State in a tribute to composers and astronomers who looked to the heavens to see the world in new ways.

The event will take place Feb. 7-8 at the BPAC, 1300 Elmwood Ave., Buffalo. “Celestial Journey” includes talks, a rare book exhibit and a performance by A Musical Feast, a chamber music group founded by retired Buffalo Philharmonic Concertmaster Charles Haupt.

Joining A Musical Feast to perform works with astronomical themes will be UB faculty members Roland Martin, adjunct instructor of organ and harpsichord performance; soprano Tiffany DuMouchelle, clinical assistant professor of vocal performance; Eric Huebner, associate professor of piano performance; and Jonathan Golove, associate professor of cello performance and chair of the Department of Music.

UB astronomer Rance Solomon will take part in a panel discussion related to “Milestones of Science,” an exhibit of three, one-of-a-kind, first-edition books by revolutionary astronomers Claudius Ptolemy (AD c100-170), Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) and Johannes Kepler (1571–1630).

The books — “The Almagest” (Ptolemy, second century AD), “De revolutionibus” (Copernicus, 1543) and “Harmonices Mundi” (Kepler, 1619) — were acquired in the late 1930s by the Buffalo Museum of Science and are now housed by the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library. They are on view at the BPAC through Feb. 10.

The display at the BPAC marks three milestones: the 546th birthday of Copernicus, the 400th anniversary of the release of Kepler’s “Harmonices Mundi” (1619) and the first time the library has shown all three works together.

The panel discussion at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 7 in the Peter and Elizabeth C. Tower Auditorium will explore the impact these books had on all aspects of our growing civilization.

Solomon, a graduate student in the Department of Physics, will discuss the scientific aspects of Copernicus’ pioneering discovery — which placed the sun, rather than the Earth, at the center of the universe — as well as its significance to the scientists that followed and their view of the structure of the universe.

Other panelists are Martin F. Ederer, a historian at SUNY Buffalo State; Julie Kirsch, a philosopher at D’Youville College; and Amy Pickard, a rare book curator and librarian at the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library. The discussion will be moderated by Peter Reczek, a biotechnology entrepreneur and consultant.

The universe also provides the inspiration for the concert by A Musical Feast at 8 p.m. Feb. 8 in the Tower Auditorium.

In a pre-concert talk at 7:30 p.m., UB faculty member Roland Martin will join Reczek to discuss the relationship of early astronomical discoveries to the metaphysics of music, in particular highlighting composers who took inspiration from the cosmic vision of Ptolemy, Copernicus, Kepler and Newton.

Tickets for the concert are $20 for general admission and $10 for Burchfield Penney members. For tickets, call 716 876-6011.

For the full program, visit A Musical Feast’s website.