Philipp Haslinger: 
The Sound of Entanglement – Anton Bruckner meets quantum physics

 

On September 4, a world premiere will take place in the Mariendom in Linz. In “BruQner - The Sound of Entanglement”, the worlds of music and science meet in a completely new way. The work of Anton Bruckner, which has written international music history, meets the fascinating realm of quantum physics, for which Austria is known far beyond its borders for its contributions.

An Austria-wide team of artists and scientists - the musician Clemens Wenger, the visual artist Enar de Dios Rodríguez and the experimental physicists and theoretical computer scientists Martin Ringbauer (University of Innsbruck), Johannes Kofler, Richard Küng, Alexander Ploier (University of Linz), Benjamin Orthner and Philipp Haslinger (Vienna University of Technology) - have set themselves the goal of making the quantum mechanical phenomenon of entanglement audible. A laser is used to generate entangled pairs of light particles, known as photons, in the dome. Entangled particles lose their individual properties, but have a particularly strong relationship with each other, no matter how far apart they are. They are more strongly coupled to each other than is possible for two classical systems. Anton Zeilinger was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2022 for experiments that demonstrated this behavior.

In the Mariendom in Linz, the entangled photon pairs take on the role of conductor: From each pair, the measurement result of one photon is sent to the side organ and the result of the partner photon is sent to the main organ. The two organists Wolfgang Kreuzhuber and Gerhard Raab sit at these organs and vary Anton Bruckner's work “Perger Präludium” simultaneously and live on the basis of the measurement data they receive. This creates a unique musical experience for the audience in the intertwined sound of the two church organs that has never been seen before. No human conductor or classical computer could instruct such music - only the strange physics of quantum particles can do that.

Accompanied by visual effects, a sensual symbiosis of music, visual art and modern research is created - true to the motto “Tradition, Innovation and Avant-garde” of this year's Ars Electronica Festival. “BruQner” is an opening event of the festival and is organized as part of the “OÖ KulturEXPO Anton Bruckner 2024”. The premiere will take place on Wednesday, September 4 at 22:00 with an introductory lecture in English. On Friday, September 6, there will be a second performance at a family-friendly time at 16:00 and in German. Admission is free in both cases and no registration is required.

8 pictures in 2 lines (4:4). upper line - 4 men, lower line - one man, one woman, two men.

© Richard Küng, Alexander Gotter, Enar de Dios Rodriguez, Benjamin Orthner, Johannes Kofler, Philipp Haslinger, Martin Ringbauer, Elisabeth Peheim

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The BruQner team from left to right: Richard Küng, Clemens Wenger, Philipp Haslinger, Benjamin Orthner, Johannes Kofler, Enar de Dios Rodríguez, Martin Ringbauer, Alexander Ploier

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The second quantum revolution as a musical spectacle: Lasers,mirrors, non-linear crystals – an experimental setup from the hightechlaboratory in the middle of Linz’s new Cathedral. Entangledphotons – the quanta of light – become conductors and directBruckner‘s Perger Präludium in a way that no human could in the hereand now. The Cathedral organists play live on the two resoundingchurch organs and fill the Mariendom‘s spectacular acoustic space.BruQner shows us a new view of our reality – a world premiere!

Arrangement of electronic components

© Deniz Lindenberg

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Lasers, mirrors, polarizers, non-linear crystals - an experimental set-up from the high-tech laboratory in the middle of Linz's Mariendom. In the experiment, entangled pairs of photons are generated and their random but correlated measurement results are translated into live music by the cathedral organists.

Arrangement of electronic components

© Martin Ringbauer, Philipp Haslinger, Enar de Dios Rodriguez

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Snapshot from the lab

Picture of an Organ at the 'Linzer Mariendom' from below.

© weitblickfilm

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The Mariendom in Linz is one of the few places in Europe where this musical event can be held, with two organs that can be played simultaneously (the Rudigier organ is pictured).

Visual impressions from ‘BruQner – The Sound of Entanglement’

  • a special rendition of our project realized for the 200th birthday of composerAnton Bruckner, which took place in Mariendom Linz, in front of 3100 people
  • in this case the quantum music was played live by two cathedral organs andreferenced to Bruckner´s organ work “Perger Präludium”
The Cathedral from insde, it's bright. Infornt of the (also on the floor) sitting audience the artists.

The Cathedral from insde, it's dark. Seen from above a lightshow with fog brings Bruckners music made to quantum music to live.

The Cathedral from insde, it's bright. Seen from above the artists in the middle of the (also on the floor) sitting audience.

picture of the quantum music machine from the insde.

The Cathedral from insde, it's dark. Seen from within the audience lightshow with fog brings Bruckners music made to quantum music to live.

The Cathedral from insde, it's bright. in the middle of the audience one of the artists (a black man) watching. Infront of him a the quantum music machine, lightened up.

The Cathedral from insde, it's dark. in the front one of the artists (a black man) is watching the crowd while -in the back - a lightshow with fog brings Bruckners music made to quantum music to live.