Pianist Rakhat-Bi Abdyssagin unites science and music in concert
PHYSICS
On December 10, Kazakh pianist and composer Rakhat-Bi Abdyssagin will perform at the Stadsgehoorzaal in Leiden. A remarkable event where music and modern physics come together.
Abdyssagin is internationally recognised for his musicality and intellectual depth. He is known for his insight into the connection between music and modern physics, including quantum mechanics.
Sense Jan van der Molen: ‘This concert is a festive and artistic prelude to a special anniversary. On 11 December, we celebrate that ‘Spin’ – a crucial ingredient of quantum mechanics – was discovered exactly 100 years ago by two physics students from Leiden.’
Date: Wednesday 10th of December 2025
Location: Aalmarktzaal, Stadsgehoorzaal Leiden
Start: 8:15 p.m. (doors open at 7:30 p.m.)
Tickets: € 25
Tickets are available via: Stadsgehoorzaal Leiden
A voice of his own in tradition
The musical program, personally curated by Abdyssagin, takes the audience on a journey through iconic works by Chopin, Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven. The program builds up to stormy passages such as Liszt’s ‘Orage from Années de Pèlerinage’ and Scriabin’s passionate ‘Étude in D♯ minor’. Perhaps the most remarkable moment of the evening comes at the very end: Abdyssagin will perform his own composition ‘Rondine Piangente’.
Connecting music to quantum
In addition to his career as a pianist, Abdyssagin delves into the theoretical aspects of music. In 2024, his book Quantum Mechanics and Avant-Garde Music: Shadows of the Void was published by Springer. In it, he explores how ideas from physics, such as quantum mechanics, can be connected to modern music.
He writes, for example, about silence, about the space between notes, and about how musical structures can be influenced by science. On December 11, Abdyssagin will give a presentation on this book during the symposium 100 Years of Spin.
An evening of art and science
This concert is not only dedicated to music, but also to the dialogue between art and science. Before the performance, Frans van Lunteren, Professor of History of Science at Leiden University, will give an introduction.
In addition, Wouter Ydema, former city poet of Leiden, will recite a poem written especially for this occasion.
A unique opportunity for Abdyssagin and Leiden
Rakhat-Bi Abdyssagin: 'I am honoured to perform a piano concert in Leiden for such a special occasion. The University of Leiden has a tremendous prestige and high reputation in the sciences, and I deeply respect and admire the scientific contributions of physicist Hendrik Antoon Lorentz.'
For lovers of music and science in Leiden and the surrounding area, this concert is a unique opportunity. Tickets can be purchased via: Stadsgehoorzaal Leiden.
Concert Program
Frédéric François Chopin, Fantaisie-Impromptu in C♯ minor, Op. posth. 66, WN 46
Johann Sebastian Bach, Prelude and Fugue in C major, BWV 846
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Fantasia in D minor, KV 397/385g
Ludwig van Beethoven, Für Elise Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor (WoO 59, Bia 515)
Frédéric François Chopin, Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23
Frédéric François Chopin, Nocturne in C-sharp minor, Op. posth.
Frédéric François Chopin, Waltz in E minor
Franz Liszt, Annees de pelerinage, Premiere annee: Suisse S.160, Orage
Alexander Scriabin, Étude in D-sharp minor, Op. 8, No. 12
Rakhat-Bi Abdyssagin, Rondine Piangente (2012)
The concert programme shows the evolution of music from Baroque period until the contemporary period. As Abdyssagin says: ‘Classical music (classicism) was born after the emergence of classical mechanics and Newton's theory of gravity. What we call contemporary music was born at the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, exactly when fundamental discoveries were made in the world of science that radically changed our perception of the structure of the universe: splitting the atom by Ernest Rutherford; Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity and Theory of Gravity; and Quantum Mechanics.’
About Rakhat-Bi Abdyssagin
Dr Rakhat-Bi Abdyssagin is a world-renowned pianist and composer. Abdyssagin, who was born in 1999, began his undergraduate studies at the Kurmangazy Kazakh National Conservatory in Almaty at the age of 13, and at 17 became a graduate student of the Kazakh National University of Arts. He holds musical equivalents of doctorates from the Conservatorio Giuseppe Verdi in Milan, Conservatorio Cesare Pollini in Padua, and Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, and a PhD from the University of St Andrews & Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. He is the author of 3 operas and more than 150 music compositions (no wonder he’s earned the nickname ‘the Kazakh Mozart’!). He was awarded the 2024 Silver Medal of the Worshipful Company of Musicians, London, UK.