Lecture, Barnard's Inn Hall, Friday, 20 Jun 2025 - 12:45
The Gresham Festival of Musical Ideas

A one-day event featuring discussions, presentations, and performances that explore and celebrate the intersection of music with other disciplines. The festival examines music’s role as a metaphor, language, and tool for understanding the wider world.
Charting an evolution of musical ideas, the day begins with the biology and co-evolution of human language and music, moves through Ancient Greek philosophies on music’s place in society, education, and virtue; and explores the mathematical principles that underpin both the explanation and creation of music.
We trace the convergent technologies of the 19th-century Jacquard loom and the player piano, before concluding with an exploration of the links between music and space—from Pythagoras to contemporary astro-sonification projects—tuning our ears to the symphony of the cosmos itself.
This is a drop-in event, and attendees are welcome to join any of the events at their convenience.
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