Olga Urick 

 Classical Piano Studio 

and I subsequently enrolled in the chemistry Ph.D. program at Yale University. I am performing research in the Hatzios Laboratory, where I am broadly studying how humans and bacteria interact with and influence each other at a molecular level. I hope to eventually launch my own university research laboratory.

My cumulative studies in music and science have resulted in amazing emergent thought-experiences. I like to zoom-out in space and time and imagine the stars and planets as if they were atoms and particles, and oppositely zoom into the quantum world and liken that realm to the cosmos. The music fits into these imaginations as well. For example, given that music derives from specific vibrational frequencies, I always wonder: can bacteria ‘hear’ molecular vibrations as music? Can galaxies rotate with speeds that emit energies sounding like a cosmic-Mozart to God? In this way, music is embedded fundamentally in nature.

Sometimes I envision the world of music to be like a vast pool. At one end might be stationed sandy white beaches and tropical green waters, while somewhere else the pool intersects a series of caves, and offshore, waves crash and turn amidst a storm. Moreover: beneath the surface of this pool, a whole other Atlantean world awaits discovery if one is willing to venture there. Each aspect of the pool is like a distinct musical type, form, or attitudes, and through studies with Olga, the full scope of this world becomes accessible. Olga was like a guide that taught me how to swim and navigate the pool to places I would never reach alone. Ultimately it remains each person’s decision where and what to explore.​