Festival of New Trumpet Music friend Jacob Varmus recently appeared at the Guggenheim with his father, Nobel Prize-winning oncologist Harold Varmus. “Genes & Jazz” being the title of the show-slash-lecture-slash-concert.

Harold came across some computer simulations of basic cell processes which had been produced by an Australian biomedical animator named Drew Barry. The animations, which are speeded-up renderings of cells dividing, are astonishingly beautiful. Harold decided to use them to illustrate his talk, and Jacob started thinking of his music as a kind of score.

And one thing led to another. You can read the whole New Yorker Talk of the Town article here.