Standing Room Only

It was standing room only at CMCI’s latest public event: “The Art of Re-enchantment: Making Early Music in the Modern Age.”

This was an evening of discussion and musical performance to help celebrate Dr Nick Wilson’s new book The Art of Re-enchantment with Oxford University Press. It featured the celebrated writer, music journalist and scholar Professor Simon Frith in conversation with the author, together with hugely well-received live music from The Society of Strange and Ancient Instruments.

In between sets from the musicians on period instruments, Nick Wilson and Simon Frith discussed how the new musical movement had emerged in the 1960s, championing historically informed ‘authentic’ approaches to performance, and how its appeal continues today. The whole story of the British early music movement is told in Dr Wilson’s new book, which was formally launched at the event, aided by music, conversation and refreshment.