Dear Professor

What drives humanity to explore? In her new composition The Song of Koios, composer Mathilde Wantenaar (1993), performed by the Netherlands Chamber Choir under the direction of Florian Helgath, gives musical form to human curiosity in an adventurous work full of science, history, imagination, and wonder—for audiences of all ages.

Koios means “to ask questions.” The Song of Koios—a full-length work presented under the title Dear Professor—revolves around humanity’s irrepressible scientific curiosity, which leads both to progress and to destruction. Wantenaar composed three brand-new parts as a continuation of her successful chamber opera Dear Professor Einstein (2022), for which librettist Willem Bruls used letters from children to Albert Einstein.

Fascinating figures such as Aristotle, Alexander von Humboldt, Charles Darwin, Marie Curie, and Albert Einstein take us on a journey through time. Through images, words, and music, the Netherlands Chamber Choir and several instrumentalists bring humanity’s search for knowledge and meaning to life, in the strikingly simple yet highly effective staging and direction by Yannick Verweij and Kenza Koutchoukali.

The Song of Koios is an adventurous voyage of discovery for young and old alike, from the very beginning to the unknown end—a quest for the secrets of creation.