125 Stanford Stories

NO. 8
Behind the Scenes

Imagining the universe

Imagining the universe at the intersection of art and science

The series Imagining the Universe “sparked a wide-ranging conversation about art, science, how we seek to understand our cosmos, and what that tells us about being human.”

—Matthew Tiews, associate dean for the advancement of the arts

In 2015, the Stanford Symphony Orchestra brought art and science together in an extraordinary performance of Gustav Holst’s The Planets, a piece divided into seven movements corresponding to individual planets. As the symphony played, NASA images of the solar system appeared above center stage at Bing Concert Hall. The production was part of a yearlong university collaboration on the topic Imagining the Universe: Cosmology in Art and Science.

Watch the video for the unfolding of a uniquely Stanford moment, when a vision of the universe, never before imagined, took shape.