“Tipping Points. Fourteen ways to describe climate change”

Interview with composer and conductor Gregor A. Mayrhofer

What value does music have for our world? Why does he compose? Composer and conductor Gregor Mayrhofer has been writing music about climate change for some time. In our video, he explains why this is so important to him, and why he is looking forward to this concert and discussion.

Biographies

Harald Lesch

Harald Lesch, astrophysicist, natural philosopher, science journalist and television presenter as well as member of the Bavarian Climate Council, has been Professor of Theoretical Astrophysics at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich since 1995. In 2002, he also received a lectureship in natural philosophy at the Munich School of Philosophy. He became known to a wider public in 1998 as a presenter of scientific television programmes, including the ZDF science magazine Abenteuer Forschung, which was renamed Leschs Kosmos in 2014.

Gregor A. Mayrhofer

The composer, pianist and conductor Gregor A. Mayrhofer, who has made a name for himself worldwide with unconventional concert programmes, was assistant to Sir Simon Rattle and a conducting fellow at the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Karajan Akademie. He studied conducting and composition in Munich, Paris and Düsseldorf before moving to Alan Gilbert’s class at the Juilliard School in New York. Mayrhofer, who took over the musical direction of the Munich Hidalgo Festival in 2024, has conducted renowned orchestras such as the Orchestre de Bordeaux, the Staatskapelle Berlin, the Bavarian State Orchestra and MusicAeterna at the Salzburg Festival.