Welcome to episode 35, “The Quantum Heart,” featuring composer, multi-media artist, and tennis player Harley Gaber (1943-2011). Gaber’s music was deeply informed by his study of Buddhism and Taoism, as well as his lifelong interest in quantum physics. He is now most well known for his 1974 string quintet, The Winds Rise in the North. However, he left music in 1978, moved to San Diego and began a short-lived career as a player and teacher of tennis. Ultimately he would spend the next 20 years as a visual artist. His multi-media collage work reached epic proportions in the 1990s with his magnum opus, Die Plage, featuring thousands of photomontaged canvases, each a quantum window into the holocaust. Gaber returned to music in the late 2000s, releasing several new recordings. But shortly after these releases, he took his own life. This episode explores the influence of Taoism and quantum physics underlying Gaber’s epic and under-regarded art.

Visit Gaber's site at Innova Recordings...  Hear Robert Reigle's complete interview with Gaber... Visit the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline...