Ancient music brought to life by Christ Church DPhil candidate

The event was organised by Maggie and her fellow members of Ancient Music at Oxford (AMO), a collective of graduate researchers studying the music of the ancient world. The Call of Kinnaru: New Ancient Music for Euripides’ Helen formed part of the group’s wider seminar series, Mousikē Technē: The Art of the Muses in Thought, Word, Sound, and Stage.

Now in its second year, AMO’s seminar series brings together academics from around the globe to discuss ancient music with Oxford’s doctoral community. Saturday’s concert was organised in conjunction with this series and generously supported by Oxford’s TORCH Performance Research Hub.

An audience of classicists, musicians and members of the public enjoyed an hour-long programme combining scholarship and performance. Between pieces, composer and classicist John Franklin (Professor of Classics at the University of Vermont) explained what survives of Ancient Greek music and how this evidence informs his reconstructions and new compositions.

The performers were Franklin, Rachel Fickes (Middlebury College) and Abigail Bradford (University of Mary Washington). Franklin and Fickes performed on reconstructed lyres, with Fickes also singing. Bradford played a reconstructed aulos, an ancient double pipe. Together they presented both surviving melodies and newly composed accompaniments for ancient texts that preserve lyrics but not music. Although inspired by ancient instruments and musical practice, the songs were presented in English to ensure accessibility.

The concert was further enhanced by an original animation from New Yorker cartoonist Glynnis Fawkes, which brought visual life to the music and narrative.

Reflecting on the event, Maggie said: ‘The Call of Kinnaru is a great example of how ancient music can inspire modern creativity. I was thrilled to see the concert attract not only classicists but people from a wide range of backgrounds, all drawn together by its interdisciplinary reach.’

For more information about AMO and the Mousikē Technē series, see the group’s Instagram page at instagram.com/ancientmusicatoxford.