On the evening of October 1, 1969, the ESRO-1B satellite began its journey into space, coordinated by the European Space Operations Center in Darmstadt. Only a few kilometers away, Bruno Maderna simultaneously conducted the world premiere of his Serenata per un satellite, a composition that seems to probe the uncertain and the unfamiliar with its quasi-aleatoric structure. Led by Darmstadt’s general music director Daniel Cohen, the Boulez Ensemble combines this work with several other pieces of nocturnal music by Dvořák, Schoenberg, and Dallapiccola. Edgard Varèse’s visionary Octandre of 1923 opens the program.