Bringing together the worlds of science and the arts to advance our understanding of the value of music and other art forms to the human being.
The Musical Brain is a registered charity which aims to bring together artists, scientists, teachers, therapists and the public, in original and stimulating environments, to examine the effects of music and other art forms upon the human mind, brain and body.
The Beethoven Question: Can Art Make Life Worth Living?
Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th October, Purcell Room, Southbank Centre
Click HERE to book through the Southbank Centre (booking open from Thursday 12th April).
Can art make life worth living? Beethoven certainly proclaimed as much, declaring that his encroaching deafness would have led him to end his life had it not been for his art. In this conference The Musical Brain brings together a broad range of speakers from the worlds of music and medical science to consider what it is about the arts that can help us to triumph in the face of adversity.
The speakers will include the broadcaster John Suchet, author of six books on Beethoven; Prof Barry Cooper, a world Beethoven authority; Stephen Johnson, presenter of BBC Radio 3's "Discovering Music"; outstanding young composer Lloyd Coleman, who shares Beethoven's hearing problems; Dr Paul Whittaker OBE, Director of Music and the Deaf; Nigel Osborne, composer and pioneer in the field of music and healing; the Amsterdam University research team, presenting their recent groundbreaking study on how Beethoven's deafness affected his quartet writing; - for full programme please click HERE.
The conference will include concerts given by Ian Brown, piano, Stephan Loges, bass-bartione, Anna Tilbrook, piano and the Sacconi Quartet, who will also illustrate the sessions and join in the discussions.
Tickets will be £95 (single-day) and £160 (weekend). We also have a limited number of student tickets available at £45 (single-day) and £75 (weekend).
Nigel Osborne: Neuroscience and the "real world" at the Science Museum
Wednesday 30th May, 6.45pm and 8.45pm
Nigel Osborne will be speaking at the upcoming Science Museum LATES event on Wednesday 30 May, at 6.45 and 8.45 and there will be time for questions after each talk.
Neuroscience and the "real world"
A journey from special schools in East Ayrshire to refugee camp in East Africa and Palestine, looking at thow recent findings from music neuroscience may help support and inform the therapeutic and educational use of music in "real world" situations.
This ‘Music and Science’ edition of their brilliant LATES series seems tailor-made for Musical Brain involvement. It is a free monthly evening of talks and events – the whole museum buzzes with activities, you just grab a drink and take your pick. No need to book but get there by 6.30.
This will be the second time we have provided a speaker for the LATES events; Ray Tallis spoke on ‘Music, Mystery and Neuroscience’ at the March edition to a packed audience, immediately under some of the first aeroplanes ever flown, suspended from the ceiling above him. These lectures have been arranged with Gresham College, a happy collaboration which we hope to continue.
*STOP PRESS* Level Playing Field - Symposium
Friday 6th and Saturday 7th July, Guildhall Livery Hall
Level Playing Field is a City of London Festival initiative which aims to generate stimulating new integrated music training and concerts as part of the main programme. It includes a symposium on the development of musical opportunities, aesthetics and instrument technology for musicians of all physicalities.
The full programme for the two days of performance, participation and learning that showcases collaboration between disabled and non-disabled musicians can be found online by following the links below:
Friday 6th July (performances and participation)
Saturday 7th July (symposium)
In association with The Musical
Brain
'Why Music?' lectures
The lectures from 'Why Music?' are now available to be listened to / downloaded on our Events page. Click here.
