performances
The Maps of the Cosmos
Is it possible to tell the great stories of science trough theatre?
The craziest of undertakings
The incredible story of Virgo, from its creation to the present day, in words and music
women listening to the cosmos
Women scientists ‘listening to the cosmos’ talk about their research
THE SOUND OF THE UNIVERSE
Is it possible to translate astronomical data into sounds?
maps of the cosmos
A show in which the great discoveries about the Universe come to life through dramatic twists, insightful and sometimes humorous dialogue, and the profound humanity of the men and women who made them.
From Henrietta Levitt and Edwin Hubble, who theorised the expansion of the Universe, to Domenico Pacini and Francis Hess and the discovery of cosmic rays; from Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson, who accidentally discovered the cosmic echo of the Big Bang, to Jocelyn Bell Burnell and pulsars; from Vera Rubin and dark matter, right through to major international collaborations such as Virgo, which have revolutionised gravitational astronomy.
Through the texts by Vincenzo Napolano, Guglielmo Rossi and Diana Hobel, the voices of Diana Hobel and Marco Sgarbi, and the illustrations by Gabriele Peddes, the maps of the cosmos become stories, emotions and the dizzying sense of infinity that scientists dare to gaze upon.
on stage
Actress, playwright and director. A graduate of the Paolo Grassi Municipal Theatre School. She works at national and international theatre companies, both public and private. As a playwright and performer, she created shows for voice and piano for the Amici della Musica di Modena; civil theatre monologues for the Benetton Foundation and Hangar Teatri; and science-theatre productions commissioned by scientific bodies. She writes and performs radio plays for Radio Rai Uno FVG.
Born in 1987 in Bologna, where he lives and works as a cartoonist and illustrator. A graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts, he has been working as a freelance illustrator since 2008 with various publishing houses and communications agencies, creating illustrated works for print and the web. He has worked on children’s books and educational materials, and has published comics with BlackVelvet, DeAgostini, Tunuè and Comics&Science.
Actor and artistic director of the Teatro Comunale in Occhiobello (RO), and organisational director of the Teatro Ferrara Off. He has been working in theatre since 1991, and collaborates as a producer and actor with the director Giulio Costa, with whom he won the Tuttoteatro.com ‘Dante Cappelletti’ award for the performing arts in 2011. Since 2006, he has also been involved in theatre training projects for teenagers.
dates
- Festival Della Scienza (Genova) October 30th 2021
- Scienza e Virgola (Trieste) May 12th 2022
- Metti Una Sera a Cascina August 4th 2022
- BergamoScienza September 29th 2023
- Città del Teatro (Cascina, PI) October 8th 2023
- Comics&Science Palace (Lucca) November 2nd 2023
- Festival delle Scienze (Roma) April 18th 2024
- Università La Sapienza (Roma) June 18th 2025
- Estate al MAXXI L’Aquila June 20th 2026
partners
the craziest of undertakings
Ten years after the first detection of gravitational waves, a theatrical lecture recounts the remarkable feat of building Virgo and detecting these elusive cosmic signals.
The story of how Virgo managed to detect the most distant and violent cosmic phenomena – from black hole mergers to stellar mergers – will be told by two researchers from the European Gravitational Observatory and the Virgo Collaboration, who played a leading role in this research. The words of one of its two founding fathers, Adalberto Giazotto – recited by Giulia Perelli and accompanied by Dimitri Grechi Espinoza on the saxophone – will serve as a link between the stages of this journey to discover the hidden music of the Universe.
on stage
Born in 1965, he attended Jazz Mobile in New York and completed advanced professional training courses at Siena Jazz with P. Tonolo. Since 2004, his work has focused primarily on two areas: applying the findings of his research into traditional cultures to the music of the group Dinamiti Jazz Folklore, and to his solo concert programme ‘Oreb’, as well as his teaching activities. In 2011, he took part in the ‘Festival Au Desert’ in Mali, and from 2012 to 2014 he directed the ‘Azalai – Carovana musicale’ project, with which he performed at some of Europe’s biggest festivals.
Actress, performer and visual artist. She trained in Rome and Belgium. She works in Italy, Europe, Asia, the USA, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina. She has starred in multi-award-winning theatre and film productions; she creates video art, installations and performances, exhibited in art galleries, for site-specific events, in theatres and in feature films. Her artistic practice has taken on a greater sense of urgency and come to life: centred on theatre, it extends into performance, installation, video art, drawing and writing. She wrote, directed and starred in her first art film, *Un Bel Niente, Nietzsche*.
dates
- Città del Teatro (Cascina), May 22nd 2025
- Festival Di Astronomia (Livorno), June 6th 2025
- Osservatorio Gravitazionale Europeo, July 6th 2025
- Bagni di Stelle (San Giuliano Terme), August 8th 2025
- European Researchers Night, Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia Leonardo Da Vinci (Milano), September 26th 2025
women listening to the cosmos
Female researchers from the European Gravitational Observatory and the Virgo Collaboration – key figures in the emergence of multi-messenger astronomy – will explain the significance and appeal of this revolution, whilst also sharing their experiences as women in science. Alongside the scientific challenges, we will explore the nature of other challenges – personal and human – that they have faced as successful scientists.
Their discussion will be led by a moderator. The researchers’ contributions will be accompanied by music directly inspired by multi-messenger astronomy, featuring sonifications of real data, created by sound designers who have worked on the sonification of scientific data from the Virgo gravitational interferometer.
dates
- Festival della Scienza (Genova), October 26th 2024
- Osservatorio Gravitazionale Europeo, October 16th 2024
- Festival Bergamoscienza (Bergamo), September 27th 2024
- Festival dell’Astronomia (Livorno), May 27th 2023
- La Nunziatina (Pisa), September 22nd 2022
- Metti una sera a Cascina, July 15th 2022
the sound of the universe
“The Sound of the Universe” is a special event combining science and artistic sound installations, exploring what it means to ‘listen’ to the cosmos and how we can do so.
The event explores the multi-messenger revolution in astronomy – which has been further enriched in recent years by the inclusion of gravitational waves – and the frontiers of multi-sensory analysis of astrophysical signals. This equally significant revolution aims to enhance our scientific analytical capabilities, thereby also promoting an inclusive approach towards people with disabilities.
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