Rick Wakeman premieres Echoes From Black Holes at Starmus VIII
2 h
Newsdesk
Progressive rock titan Rick Wakeman delivered a masterful performance at Tenerife’s Pirámide de Arona during Starmus VIII, debuting his ambitious brand-new composition, Echoes from Black Holes. Merging grand classical structures and cosmic storytelling, the world premiere captivated an audience filled with eminent scientists, astronomers, and music enthusiasts.
The piece grew from an idea by Starmus co-founder Garik Israelian, who envisioned taking a historic lecture on black holes delivered by Professor Stephen Hawking, dividing it into distinct segments, and setting it to music paired with vivid backdrop visuals. Inspired by Hawking's concepts, Wakeman took the vision and brought it to life, interspersing his dramatic keyboard arrangements with Hawking's own recorded voice to seamlessly bind the musical movements together.
As the final section concluded, the venue erupted into an enthusiastic standing ovation. Wakeman initially left the stage to roaring applause, but with the audience refusing to leave their seats, the keyboard wizard returned for an extraordinary two-song encore.
To cap off the evening, Wakeman offered a brilliant display of his musical genius by reimagining two Beatles classics through the lens of legendary classical composers. He first performed Help! styled as a romantic piece by Camille Saint-Saëns, before transforming Eleanor Rigby into a dark, driving arrangement in the theatrical tradition of Sergei Prokofiev. In light of his recent health scares this was a truly extraordinary evening.
The astonishing performance provided a fitting climax to an unforgettable night of music and science.
Watch the whole incredible performance exclusively below.
Watch our exclusive interview where Rick explains in detail the whole process.
