WINGED PSALTERIES, WINGED OYSTERS

What could they have in common? Yes, mollusks please our eye with their luster of pearls and the perfection of their shell form, while music moves our hearts. But it is not just aesthetics that unites musical instruments and seashells. Both man-made artifacts and living creatures change as time goes by.

Musician and biologist Ilya Tëmkin will explore a biological metaphor in his work on the evolution of winged oysters and the reconstruction of the past of the Baltic psaltery, an ancient musical instrument of north-eastern Europe. He’ll also play the psaltery and for the musical part will be joined by Michael Andrec, a bandura player, composer, and computational biologist