The Quantum Sounds Symposium took place from June 6 to 8, 2023, offering the public and the ICFO community an opportunity to explore the intersection between quantum physics and music composition, data sonification, interactive sound design, and audio software development.
The three-day event featured a series of talks, lecture-recitals, and Quantum Random Number Generator jam sessions, blending science, art, and performance. Invitees also visited ICFO laboratories and led themed group discussions with registered participants.
On June 6 and 7, sessions were held at ICFO in Castelldefels, while on June 8, activities moved to La Salle-Ramón Llull University and Hangar.org in Barcelona.
The symposium welcomed leading figures from academia, industry, and the arts. Highlights included:
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Eduardo Reck Miranda, Paulo Itaboraí, and Cephas Teom (University of Plymouth), who presented the lecture-concert Tensorial Ripples.
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Eli Fieldsteel (University of Illinois), who introduced LightMatrix, a light-sensitive musical control interface.
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James Weaver and Brian Ingmanson (IBM), who demonstrated Hilbert Space Deep House, exploring electronic dance music composed with quantum states.
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Rodney DuPlessis (Worcester Polytechnic Institute), with a performance on composing with classical and quantum harmonic oscillators.
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Spencer Topel (Physical Synthesis) and Florian Carle (Yale Quantum Institute), who explored superconducting qubits in Reflections of the Quantum Realm.
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Angel Faraldo and Carlos Abellan (QUSIDE), who presented Looped in the Sound of Photon.
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Bob Coecke (Quantinuum), who gave a talk-demonstration on quantum compositionality for musical creation.
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James Harley (University of Guelph) and Marcin Halat, who revisited Iannis Xenakis’ ideas in Random Walks in Sound and Music.
The event also featured panel discussions with international experts, including Mónica Bello (Arts-CERN), Anna Sanpera (UAB), Leticia Tarruell (ICFO), and Maciej Lewenstein (ICFO), covering themes such as quantum sounds, photons and vibrations, music and quantum computing, and the future of quantum arts and creativity.
The symposium was organized by Dr. Reiko Yamada and Prof. Dr. Maciej Lewenstein of ICFO, in collaboration with Dr. Osvaldo Jiménez Farías (La Salle-URL) and Dr. Jose Manuel Berenguer (University of Barcelona, Hangar.org).
The project received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programmes (NOQIA grant agreement No. 833801) and (OPTOlogic grant agreement No 899794).
