On May 27, 2024, participants attending the Science Café had the opportunity to enjoy a special artistic moment, provided by soprano Narcisa Brumar, a lyric artist at the Romanian National Opera in Timișoara, and pianist Leonard Bonea, accompanist at the Romanian National Opera in Timișoara.

The two artists opened the Science Café event entitled “The Human Voice—Art and Science,” which featured special guest Prof. Dr. Stephan Poen, a renowned phoniatrist and Doctor of Medicine and Musicology.

Prof. Dr. Stephan Poen, a renowned phoniatrist, Doctor of Medicine and Musicology, will share his vast knowledge of vocal aesthetics and the connection between medicine and music. With a multifaceted career, he is also an accomplished lyric artist (baritone) in opera and vocal-symphonic music. He is regularly invited to be a member of the jury at prestigious international singing competitions in Italy (Vincenzo Bellini International Competition – Sicily), Romania (Hariclea Darclée International Singing Competition), Israel, the USA, Brazil, and many other European countries.

He obtained his PhD in Musicology from the National University of Music in Bucharest, with the thesis “Sonology and Sonosophy in Tonal Determinism.” He founded the field of Vocal Aesthetics by formulating an entirely new doctrinal system based on the research and experience accumulated in his own medical and musicological work. He is an associate professor of Vocal Aesthetics, teaching master’s courses and giving lectures at several Italian conservatories and opera houses.

The event harmoniously combined information about the human voice, exploring the diversity and depth of this instrument, which has been used throughout history to express our emotions, to communicate, and to create art. Participants had the opportunity to understand how sound is produced by the vocal cords and how sounds are shaped and amplified in the human body, exploring the wonders of the science behind the human voice.