Stephen Hawking's 75th Birthday (and Alumni news)

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For Stephen Hawking's 75th Birthday, the Choir Gonville and Cauis, Cambridge (where he has been a Fellow for 52 years) commissioned the composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad to write a choral piece for him, the theme being the universe.  In the video below, we get a small insight into her creative process and how she set about finding some words to create her musical image of the universe. In the piece, Frances-Hoad uses Newtonian physics, NASA space sounds and a children's poem as her inspiration.  The coming together of the arts, literature and science results in quite an ethereal work.

You can read more here about the influences in the piece and watch the two videos below.  You will also recognise our lovely alumna Alice Webster as one of the three soloists, who asks some of the questions which Hawking asks in his Brief History of Time while the choir repeats "Sun, moon, stars".




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