Why does music move us? Free London lecture explores the question tonight

A song can change the mood of a commute, bring a room together or make an ordinary evening feel completely different. Tonight, a free London lecture will step back from the playlist and ask a bigger question: why do human beings make music at all?

Professor Milton Mermikides will present Why Is There Music? at LSO St Luke’s on Wednesday 21 October, starting at 6pm. Gresham College’s official listing offers registration for both the venue and an online stream, giving listeners a choice between an evening out around Old Street and watching from home. Check the registration page before travelling: a listed booking link does not guarantee that seats remain available.

What the evening will explore

The lecture approaches music through several disciplines, including psychology, neuroscience, anthropology and philosophy. Its starting point is the remarkable place music occupies across human cultures, despite the difficulty of pinning down one simple explanation for its purpose. The programme also asks how sound can communicate such a wide range of emotions.

For radio listeners, that opens up some enjoyable questions of our own. Why does one person go straight for a huge chorus while another returns to a quiet, intimate recording? When we call a song powerful, are we responding to its sound, the words, our memories or the company we first heard it in? These are prompts to take into the evening, rather than claims about the conclusions the speaker will reach.

Who is Milton Mermikides?

Mermikides has been Gresham Professor of Music since 2023. His background combines composing, guitar playing, technology and academic work. Gresham’s biography lists collaborations with musicians including Evelyn Glennie, Tim Minchin and Brian Eno, reflecting a career that crosses musical styles and the boundaries between artistic practice and research.

He studied at the London School of Economics, Berklee College of Music and the University of Surrey. The college also lists his teaching roles at Surrey and the Royal College of Music. That combination makes the event an interesting prospect for people who enjoy hearing how a working musician thinks about the subject, as well as those drawn to its scientific questions.

Getting to LSO St Luke’s

The venue is at 161 Old Street, London EC1V 9NG. Gresham’s visitor information identifies Old Street, on the Northern line’s Bank branch, as the nearest Underground station. From the station, the venue is west along Old Street, on the north side of the road. Its distinctive spire is a useful landmark.

The setting is itself part of the appeal: LSO St Luke’s occupies an eighteenth-century, Grade I-listed former church. If you are coming from elsewhere in London, allow time to find the entrance and check the organiser’s joining instructions. For live transport conditions, check your journey before leaving rather than relying on a route description written earlier in the day. Anyone with specific access requirements should consult the venue before travelling.

More music questions to come

Tonight’s event belongs to Gresham’s The Mysteries of Music series. The published programme continues with Musical Myths and Miracles on 25 November, followed by Do Machines Make Music? on 20 January 2027. Later sessions turn to talent, jazz and the future of music, with dates listed across spring and early summer.

That gives curious listeners a way to keep exploring after this evening. You can pick the subjects that interest you rather than treating the programme as a course that has to be followed from beginning to end. Each event has its own listing, so check its arrangements separately instead of assuming that every date uses the same venue or registration process.

Before you tune in

Start with the official Why Is There Music? page and choose the in-person or online option that suits you. Keep the confirmation and joining details handy. Then bring one favourite song to mind: not as homework, but as a personal reference point while the discussion explores why something so familiar can still be so difficult to explain.