Imagine the Parktheater, where in three auditoriums experts are talking to and with the audience about how science and technology have made pop music great and continue to do so. In the afternoon Lucas Asselbergs, head of SG, and radio producer Sjors Fröhlich host a symposium whose speakers include TU/e scientists Berry Eggen, Clara Stegehuis, Maarten Hornikx and Remco van der Hofstad, talking about sound design, networks, acoustics and the likelihood of success, respectively. In the evening Matthijs van Nieuwkerk receives guests such as former Philips boss Jan Timmer and pop professor Tom ter Bogt (Utrecht University) in a talk show. Live music is performed at every opportunity by Colin Benders, Binkbeats and others.

Never before has TU/e organized such a large event off-campus. “The initiative was an external one,” tells Asselbergs, “but it sat well with the Executive Board's wish to share important developments with a broad public.” He is referring to Kees Toering, for years the station manager at NPO Radio 2 and the person who came up with the idea for the Top 2000. He proposed collaborating with a university to order to examine the close relationship between science, technology and pop music.

Palpable

Toering saw a link between science, technology and pop music and gained the enthusiastic approval of TU/e professor Bert Meijer. Studium Generale was involved with a view to creating an appealing and innovative program in cooperation with the originators. And so The Sound of Science provides an excellent opportunity to show how technology impacts something as ordinary and palpable as pop music. Not from an ivory tower, but within the community. In the city, in the Parktheater, on a Sunday in winter. With major attractions Matthijs van Nieuwkerk and Leo Blokhuis as well as scientists from our own campus.

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