Hosted by Cerys Matthews, featuring a whale song sound bath by Tom Mustill, the producers of the BBC Wild Isles series and DJ Jason Singh

This event takes place in the British Library.

Join us in the Entrance Hall of the British Library in a world of wildlife sounds, images and song. 

Tickets include late access to the exhibition Animals: Art, Science and Sound included in the price. 

Hosted by musician, author and broadcaster Cerys Matthews.

Cosmo Sheldrake, the musician, composer and producer, headlines with a special set drawn from across his career, including Wake Up Calls made with recordings of endangered birds and a new EP of fish recordings titled Wild Wet World which will be released on April 26th.

Immerse yourself in a subsonic Whale Song Sound Bath, narrated by Tom Mustill author of the critically acclaimed book How To Speak Whale. This guided listening experience draws on cutting-edge science, transports you to an underwater realm, and decodes the languages of fish, seals, dolphins and whales.

And discover how the producers of the BBC Wild Isles series captured some of its most exciting wildlife stories.

Featuring sound artist, nature beatboxer, composer and DJ Jason Singh.

Doors, bars and exhibition open at 19.30. Performances from 20:15.

Please note that this is a standing event, with only limited seating.

Cosmo Sheldrake is singer, songwriter, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist from London. He collects and plays a variety of instruments and often incorporates field recordings and natural soundscapes into his music. He composed the soundtrack for ‘Moving Art’, a Netflix nature series that explores the beauty of oceans, forests, deserts and flowers. He released his first single The Moss in 2014. He released his debut album The Much Much How How and I in 2019 and Wake Up Calls in 2020.

Tom Mustill is a biologist turned filmmaker and writer, specialising in stories where people and nature meet. His first book, How To Speak Whale: A Voyage into the Future of Animal Communication was published in 2022. He has worked with David Attenborough, Greta Thunberg, Stephen Fry and has won over 30 international awards and been nominated for a Primetime Emmy. He directed the blockbuster Inside Nature’s Giants series which won a BAFTA, Royal Television Society and Broadcast award, as well as the ZSL Award for Communicating Zoology.

Hilary Jeffkins is an award-winning wildlife Filmmaker who worked at the BBC Natural History Unit for over 25 years. In 2011 as a freelancer, she joined Humblebee Films to produce David Attenborough’s Natural Curiosities. She is now with Silverback Films working as a series producer on the BBC1 Wild Isles series.

Chris Howard is a producer and director of wildlife documentaries, focusing on the wildlife of the British Isles, live natural history broadcasts and conservation – and he is passionate about story-telling across genres and interests. Most recently he produced the Woodland and Freshwater episodes of Wild Isles, and collaborated with Radios 2, 3 and 6music to bring the sounds of the series to a radio audience too.

Cerys Matthews is a musician, author and broadcaster. She hosts and programmes an award winning radio show on BBC 6 music, the Blues Show on BBC Radio 2 and Radio 4’s new music show ‘ADD TO PLAYLIST’ with Jeffrey Boakye. She has curated and composed for theatres, including the National Theatre, London and the Tate Modern and was artistic director for the opening ceremony of the World Music Expo 2013. She was awarded an inaugural St David Award for her services to culture from the First Minister of Wales in 2014 and the same year, was awarded an MBE for her services to music. Cerys was a founder member of multi-million selling band Catatonia and her interests span science, nature, music, art, literature, and sports.  

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