San Francisco, CA – Two days after a pivotal performance, a palpable sense of optimism lingers for Harrington, who participated in a recent assembly of leading experts addressing critical global threats. The event concluded on a note of profound hope, described by Harrington as a “real point of lift and buoyancy in the face of great danger.” He now frames his work in distinct terms: “Before July 16 and After July 16.”
“I felt like the music did its job, and I felt like we did our job as musicians,” Harrington elaborated, emphasizing the musicians’ rigorous training in attentive listening, a skill honed during the assembly.
While acknowledging that a single concert or even an assembly of brilliant minds cannot unilaterally solve the world’s most pressing issues, the fusion of art and expertise offers a powerful new viewpoint. Daniel Holz, Chair of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ Science and Security board and organizer of the July 16 event, highlighted the unique synergy. “The combination of science and music is especially potent,” Holz stated. “The consideration of nuclear war is fundamentally inhumane,and it is critical to be reminded of our shared humanity. During the Assembly, the nobel laureates and nuclear experts were wrestling with facts and numbers and technical issues. One can try to use words and reasoning and equations to capture the spark that makes humanity worth preserving, but art has the power to viscerally convey the deep knowledge of what makes us human.”
