QUANTUM HARMONY 2026: A JOURNEY INTO THE SYMMETRIES OF NUMBERS

The Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències is organizing, for the sixth consecutive year, an event that celebrates the synergy between scientific research and musical creativity: Quantum Harmony 2026. In collaboration with the Instituto de Física Corpuscular de Valencia (IFIC) and the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Valencia, this edition invites us to explore the deep logic that connects the universe with art.

 

Science as artistic inspiration

Both music and science are composed of patterns. While in music it is the composer’s logic that organizes the elements, in science it is the logic of nature. Quantum Harmony was created to bring these two parallel worlds together, establishing a forum where reason and intuition combine in a virtuous way.

 

From inventory to abstraction: The history of numbers

In this edition, scientists from IFIC and composition students from the Conservatorio Superior Joaquín Rodrigo have reflected on how numbers are the gateway to the roots of civilization:

• From the earliest questions about whole quantities and accounting
• To the challenge of dividing the indivisible (fractions)
• And the complexity of abstract concepts such as the square root of -1.

 

After centuries of answering questions we could not even imagine asking, these mathematical concepts have now been transformed into four original musical works that will premiere during the event.

 

Concert and musical programme

El Grupo Antara from the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Valencia, conducted by Voro Garcia, will perform the pieces inspired by this symmetrical journey. Young composers explore new sounds and textures:

 

Works by: Beatriz Ros, Álvaro Serrano, Fabián López y Álvaro Gorrea.

 

Musical Programme

“Airtemis” — Beatriz Ros

Airtemis draws on the symmetry of numbers primarily through harmony. By means of negative or mirror harmony — built around an axis, in this case the note E — a harmony and its opposite are created and balanced, simulating a system close to modular arithmetic.

Through sonic oscillations, the musical discourse is constructed by layering superimposed textures, interrupted by elements that articulate and structure the work. In this way, the piece develops a symmetrical, almost mirrored character both in its formal and harmonic dimensions.

 

“Interfase” — Álvaro Serrano

Interfase: a zone of contact or interaction between two distinct systems, where transfer, friction or mutual influence occurs.

The piece bases its aesthetic on the concept of an interface, understood here as the poeticisation of a possible hybridisation between the tempered and the Pythagorean tuning systems. Making use of microtonality — particularly through the approximation of the Pythagorean circle of fifths using quarter tones — the work seeks to blend instruments tuned in the tempered system with a Pythagorean auditory perception. In doing so, it alludes to the idea of juxtaposing rational and irrational systems while also highlighting the concept of the interface as a point of convergence between two states of matter.

At the same time, the work explores the residual effect of developed material that seeks to exploit throat flexibility in wind instruments, avoiding direct timbral development through the use of extended techniques. Formally, the piece aims for organic flow and the avoidance of stasis, proposing instead a contrast of gestures between horizontality and verticality.

 

“An Allegory of Density” — Álvaro Gorrea

An Allegory of Density seeks to reflect the mathematical concept of density. Just as human beings initially worked only with natural numbers before discovering dense sets such as rational or real numbers, the piece presents slow, contemplative sections whose harmony gradually expands. These slower passages contrast with fragments of greater energy and movement that articulate the piece, dividing it into different modules. Within each module, the intention is to move from what is less dense (static sections) to what is more dense (energetic sections).

This idea of progression from lower to higher density extends to the work as a whole, forming a kind of fractal structure: from a static beginning with a single note to an intense and decisive ending that almost encompasses the entire chromatic spectrum.

The activity will begin with an outreach lecture by Dr. Alberto Aparici, physicist and science communicator, who will present the key ideas that inspired the compositions.

Programme

Time
6:30 pm	Door opens
7:00 pm	Lecture by Alberto Aparici
7:30 pm	Musical preformance (Grupo Antara)
8:30 pm	End

Information:

• Date: Wednesday, 11 March 2026.
• Venue: Auditorio Santiago Grisolía (Museu de les Ciències).
• Access: West entrance on Calle Menor (next to the Hemisfèric).
• Live streaming: The session can be followed through the audiovisual channels of the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències and its YouTube channel.