David Ibbett, Ph.D. is a composer, educator and musical advocate for science. Based in Boston, he is a Professor at WPI and directs the Multiverse Concert Series, a project that combines music and science in live performance. His lifelong passion for science began with his father, Dr. Roger Ibbett, who is a research chemist in Nottingham, UK. In 2020, David was the first Guest Composer at Fermilab, the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. In 2023, David was named the first Resident Composer at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.
David composes electrosymphonic music: a fusion of classical and electronic styles that interweaves influences from songs, symphonies, pop, rock and electronica. Musical strands are met with inspiration from the work of scientists: sonified data, musical metaphors for scientific concepts, and experimental sound and images from contemporary research. In all projects, David seeks a deep collaboration with musicians, scientists, artists and performers. He has worked with physicists (Dr. Mathew Kleban, NYU), biologists (Dr. Paul Garrity, Brandeis), engineers (Dr. Irmgard Bischofberger, MIT), sociologists (Dr. Clara Han, Johns Hopkins), astrophysicists (Dr. Priya Natarajan, Yale) and oceanographers (Dr. Sarah Davies, BU). Recent works include Cellular Dance (2019) a ballet on a theme of cell movement with biologist Alexey Veraksa of UMass Boston, Octave of Light (2020) an album of exoplanet music, Black Hole Symphony (2022) and Mars Symphony (2024) orchestral journeys through spacetime at the Museum of Science, Boston, Christa McAuliffe Center, and planetariums nationwide.