Conversation-Concert on the occasion of Rainer Nagel’s 85th birthday
Siena, December 4, 2025
ABSTRACT
During this conversation-concert celebrating Rainer Nagel’s birthday, I will perform Ruggiero Leoncavallo’s Spanish Album and Franz Liszt’s majestic transcription of Schubert’s lied Die junge Nonne.
I will try to show that only with deep, thoughtful and attentive knowledge of the music can a free and conscious interpretation be achieved. I will illustrate how the discipline and clarity of mathematical thinking support and guide my interpretative process. I will not discuss the structural construction of music, nor equations or acoustics; rather, I will explain how my logical-deductive mindset concretely informs every step of my work on a score. Through my mathematical lens, I find the space to fully express myself, as I believe the composer once did. My goal is to engage a wide audience – musicians, amateurs, and newcomers alike – by offering them a new way of listening. A deeper understanding of music, even without technical training, can open unexpected perspectives. Just as with visual art, one may be captivated by a the beauty of a painting, yet a professional explanation can reveal hidden layers of meaning and greatly enrich the experience.
Partial Differential Equations @DipMat 