A Marriage of Music and Mathematics

     Italian mathematician and musician Rosanna Iembo is an interdisciplinary star that I have had the pleasure of meeting -- and hearing --  at poetry readings held at mathematics conferences.  Iembo combines mathematical storytelling with live music; here is a link to a musical video of "The Marriage of Myia and Milo" narrated by Iembo, with musical accompaniment by her daughters -- and, below, I offer an abbreviated sample of a math-related portion of the poetic text.

from  The Marriage of Myia & Milo       by Rosanna Iembo

     A marriage, a marriage,
     said everyone.
     Myia, the daughter of Pythagoras and Theanò,
     marries Milo, the legendary athlete.

     And to the marriage
     even the stranger was invited
     because nobody was excluded
     in that ancient polis
     where Pythagoras founded a School.  

     The School of Science and Knowledge,
     The School of Respect and Loyalty

     And among the desks of that great School
     even women were admitted.
     They taught
     music and mathematics
     cosmology and medicine
     and talked about philosophy.
. . .
     And so Myia after the wedding,
     continued her work
     between music and mathematics.

     Very great was her knowledge
     and even greater her elegance.
. . .

     At this link is an article that tells of the well-deserved recognition Iembo has earned for her interdisciplinary activity.
      The 2018 Joint Mathematics Meetings are being held this week, January 10-13, 1018, in San Diego.  No poetry reading is on the schedule but some of the poets have been chatting about getting together informally.  Here is a link to several postings in this blog about previous JMM readings.