Marcus du Sautoy

Many composers have exploited ideas of symmetry in their work. Mathematician Marcus du Sautoy explains how Bach uses symmetry in his puzzle canons and explores whether AI can learn these tricks and write music like Bach. Can you tell the difference between Artificial Bach and Real Bach? Marcus will test the audience with a musical Turing test.

The BMF is delighted to welcome back 2021 BMF Young Artist pianist Luke Lally Maguire to provide the musical examples for Marcus’s experiment. Luke will perform works by both Bachs in this playful challenge to our aural understanding.

In part two of his talk and to mark the the 100th anniversary of Iannis Xenakis’ birth, Marcus explains how Xenakis uses the symmetry of a cube to determine musical parameters in Nomos Alpha for solo cello, performed by Julie-Anne Manning. The performance will be accompanied by a visual animation created by Marcus and artist Simon Russell.

Marcus Du Sautoy OBE is the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford.

Coffee, tea and light snacks will be available at the BMF Café.