Brian May’s Starmus Festival promises to be pretty special this year, with the last night reserved for the world's first space-themed concert, in tribute to the event’s guest of honour, Stephen Hawking.
Stephen Hawking will be lecturing as well this year, and attendees are invited to submit a question for him to answer here.
The Queen musician will be picking up his guitar to perform. His choice of music is currently unrevealed, but fans can expect a space theme.
Other stars to appear on the night include Sarah Brightman, with a special “space” set, and Rick Wakeman, with his customary out-of-this-world atmospheric repertoire.
Joining him will be retired astronaut Chris Hadfield, the first person to actually record a song in space, an astral version of ‘Space Oddity’ of which even David Bowie approved. Other big names include Hans Zimmer and rapper MC Hawking.
Under the theme ‘Beyond the Horizon – Tribute to Stephen Hawking’ the 2016 event will take inspiration from the legendary man himself and the notion that nothing is impossible. A comprehensive programme of events will include lectures from key note speakers, round table discussions, exclusive music performances, creative arts exhibitions and visits to local observatories.
The founder of Starmus, Garik Israelian, explains why music is at the core of the festival’s success: “Starmus is a science communication festival with a unique format. We use the power of music to communicate science, first of all - astronomy.
"Stephen Hawking is enjoying life as much as he can, getting energy from music, science and people who are important in his life. He said that he survived thanks to science and music.
“Hawking has shown, with his own life, that there is no science without inspiration. Music inspires science and vice versa."
Brian May, as passionate about his astronomy as he is about music, puts it thus:
”Starmus is a festival where passions are shared in a language we can all understand. At the last two festivals we heard Neil Armstrong talking about the new age of development of the human character, Alexei Leonov described his first space walk, Dawkins spoke on evolution, (Apollo astronauts) Charlie Duke, Buzz Aldrin and a legion of other amazing scientists presented - some of the greatest communicators I've ever seen.... And this was all accompanied by Cosmic music, including Rick Wakeman and Tangerine Dream.
“Starmus is about the joy of being complete human beings, able to enjoy art and science without having to make that choice.”
Click here for info on Starmus Festival, which takes place from 27 June to 2 July 2016 in Tenerife. Tap the first picture below to open the slideshow:
